City to conduct “dummy shutdown” on water supply

The City has urged residents to store water for the duration dummy shutdown. FILE

The City has urged residents to store water for the duration dummy shutdown. FILE

Published Aug 10, 2022

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The City of Cape Town has advised residents that most areas in the Cape Flats of water supply disruptions on Thursday as it conducts a test run for an actual shutdown.

The announcement came days after the City of Cape Town lifted its notice for residents to boil water before consumption.

Mayco member for Water and Sanitation, Zahid Badroodien, said the outage would affect most Cape Flats areas.

These areas include Sherwood Park, Manenberg, Heideveld, Heinz Park, Samora Machel, Philippi, Brown’s Farm, White Hart Lane, Marcus Gavey, Philippi East, Crossroads, The Island, Hanover Park, Schaapkraal, Philippi Horticultural Area, Highlands Estate, Mitchells Plain and Strandfontein.

The shutdown will take place from 10 am until 6pm on Thursday.

“This dummy shutdown will assist the planning teams in assessing the capability of the water supply network for re-routing in preparation for an actual shutdown.

“This is a very important exercise as it provides an indication of the extent of the impact and what mitigation measures need to be implemented and what the possibilities are to maintain the water supply to these areas,” said Badroodien.

Residents are requested to store water upfront in clean, sealed containers for domestic use during this period and to ensure that all taps are closed to prevent water loss and/or damage when the supply is restored.

Water tankers will be dispatched to provide water for domestic consumption where required.

“The City sincerely regrets any inconvenience caused, but it must explore opportunities within its water supply infrastructure network to benefit its consumers.” Badroodien continued.

Last week, the City urged residents to boil their water before drinking, pinning a discolouration in the water on a suspected load shedding-related problem.

Below average water levels had the City urging consumers to use water sparingly as dam levels stood at 75.5% last week, lower than the 97.5% in the same period last year.

Weekend Argus