Analyst says persistent water outage in Joburg is worrying

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Analyst Professor Mike Muller says the persistent water challenges in Johannesburg shows that there is a possible break-down of organisation within Joburg Water.

This as residents in some parts of the city enter a second week without water supply, a problem which was triggered by a lightning strike at the Eikenhof Pump Station last week.

Joburg Water does, however, say that their technicians are on site with the assistance of the Rand Water team.

“What we have to say is this kind of failure just because an incident happens at one pump station, a power cut happens for a few hours in another, these shouldn’t be causing the kind of systematic breakdown across large areas that we are seeing. I am a little worried about the state of organisation of Joburg Water and what is particularly worrying is we are not hearing from them, we are not hearing them honestly and openly saying these are our challenges, this is what we need to do,” says Muller.

Meanwhile, Johannesburg Emergency Services has warned residents of the city to remain hydrated and to avoid spending too much time in the sun during this heatwave. The South African Weather Services has on Monday warned of high temperatures peaking at plus 37 degrees across Gauteng and different parts of the country, until Wednesday.

This is as some residents in the Randburg area are still without water, which makes it difficult for them to cope in the scorching heat.

Joburg EMS Spokesperson, Robert Mulaudzi says keeping hydrated helps prevent heat strokes.

“Residents are urged to stay hydrated and drink lots of water. Try and avoid direct sunlight. Those working directly on the sunlight, take regular breaks. Exposure to these extreme temperatures can lead to heat exhaustion, heat cramps. Exposure to extremely high temperatures can lead to heat stroke.”