A Berea businessman says he lost R13,000 in one month buying water to keep his store clean, the food side of the business running and toilets flushing as parts of Joburg kept experiencing intermittent water supply.
According to Johannesburg Water spokesperson Puleng Mopeli, its systems are impacted by various network challenges, primarily due to high demand that exceeds available capacity.
For Berea Hypermarket Blue Basket Foods owner Grant de Klerk, the ongoing water issues are hurting his pocket.
“Last week we lost R13,000 because we had to buy water to sell and also use that water to keep the store clean, food side running and toilets flushing,” said De Klerk, who claimed they have not had sufficient water for three weeks.
“It cost us R29,000 to buy water; some of it we sold, some of it we used. We lost about R13,000,” he said.
With the Berea reservoir empty, residents said they usually have one hour of water supply daily.
Councillor Carlos Manuel Dias da Rocha said Joburg Water told them it was going to increase pumping into the reservoir, and would close it at 5pm and open it at 5am to allow it to replenish.
“However, that did not happen and taps still remained dry,” Da Rocha said.
As the water problems continue, De Klerk said they had to increase prices for the water that they sell because they also buy it at an inflated price from suppliers. However, customers were not happy about the increase, he said.
Meanwhile, residents from Coronationville informal settlement said their water only comes back at night, leaving them stranded whenever they have to prepare their children for school in the morning.
Lerato Mothupi told Sowetan they have to travel a long distance to collect water from the local church and community centre.
“We struggle a lot whenever we have to collect water from the water trucks and residents from the old houses. We either have to cross the railway line or walk 15 minutes to the church.
“My children cannot fully bath because we are trying to save each and every drop of water we have,” said Mothupi.
Mopeli said when Joburg Water carried out planned maintenance work aimed at installing new isolation valves at the Forest Hill and Eikenhof pump stations, it faced a series of unexpected power outages, which further complicated the recovery process for affected systems.
Johannesburg Water spokesperson Puleng Mopeli, says: The maintenance was completed; it’s critical to note that systems do take time to recover. The current water supply issue faced across our system is due to electrical faults on Rand Water’s side,” she said.
DA Gauteng shadow MEC for infrastructure development Nico de Jager said the current water crisis was being exacerbated by power failures at Rand Water’s Forest Hill and Eikenhof systems.
That, he said, represents a catastrophic failure in basic service delivery.
“The constant blame-shifting between Rand Water, Eskom and City Power must end. What residents need is decisive action and proper contingency planning,” said De Jager.
