Johannesburg - Rand Water executive Eddie Singo has described the failure of two transformers that left thousands of people without water over the weekend as purely an “engineering glitch”.
Many communities on the West Rand and parts of Soweto were left without water as their taps ran dry.
Some major hospitals including Helen Joseph Academic Hospital and Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital also experienced water challenges.
Rand Water has blamed this on the failure of two transformers that are essential in the supply and pumping of water.
“Over the weekend we lost one of two transformers that supply the Eikenhof pumping station now those transformers belong to City power and they were called in.
“As they were working on that, the second transformer also failed, which meant the whole of Eikenhof does not have power we cannot proceed with pumping,” Singo said.
He said Rand Water was ready to supply water and everything on the side of the water utility was ready, but the failure of City Power infrastructure saw the utility failing to supply water.
The utility depends on other service providers for electricity including the City of Joburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and Emfuleni. Eskom is also a service provider.
He said the last time the two transformers were problematic was three years ago.
“They do maintain these transformers; we demand their maintenance schedules but unfortunately engineering equipment will fail. When one fails, we have another one.”
Singo said Rand Water enjoyed a healthy relationship with its service providers, including the City of Joburg.
Recently Rand Water published a list of municipalities that owed it billions and the City of Joburg was not on the list.
“They pay us for their services and we pay them for our services. You will never find City of Joburg among the list of municipalities that are not servicing their debt,” he said.
The Star