Johannesburg - Thousands of residents around Joburg have been without water after a mainline pipe burst for the second time in a week.
On Tuesday night, Johannesburg Water was struggling to deal with the disruption. It’s believed the pipe burst at the corner of West Street and 3rd Avenue in Houghton, leaving residents in Saxonwold, Houghton, Rosebank and surrounding suburbs without running water.
Johannesburg Water was unable to confirm when water would be restored, saying its team was still gathering information.
In a separate incident, a water pipe at Corriemore reservoir in Northcliff burst on Monday - the same mainline as the pipe burst that took place last week at the corner of Republic Road and Judges Avenue in Windsor, Randburg.
Last week’s burst water main left residents without water from Wednesday afternoon to Sunday morning. Areas including Cresta, Linden, Blairgowrie and Victory Park were affected during both water outages, with a number of the reservoirs and water towers running on low to empty.
Johannesburg Water spokesman Hilgard Matthews could not estimate how much water had been lost. “But the line which has burst pumps around 1.1 million litres of water per hour.”
By 11am on Tuesday, Johannesburg Water tweeted that repairs had been completed and that the system would take ‘six hours to charge the mainline’. “It will then take another four hours to charge the reservoir.”
By 5pm, Johannesburg Water was still hoping that water would be restored to these areas.
Matthews reiterated calls for residents in affected areas to use water only for necessities.
“We want to ensure that everyone has water, especially when reservoirs or water towers are low.” He also explained that when reservoirs and water towers ran dry, there was a tedious process to have them refilled.
This was why when Johannesburg Water said water had been restored, it did not necessarily mean all areas received water immediately. “It takes a bit of time. A restored water supply doesn’t automatically mean there will be water straightaway,” he said.
The Star
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