With the second phase of water maintenance underway, many Johannesburg residents face renewed uncertainty after days of lingering outages. As Christmas draws closer, some Johannesburg residents are steeling themselves for a festive season with the possibility of dry taps as a result of major planned maintenance work on key water infrastructure over three phases in South Africa’s biggest metro. Phase One, which began on Saturday, 13 December, was only meant to last 48 hours (two days), but for some residents, particularly those living in Midrand, water outages lasted much longer.
Unexpectedly, parts of the Commando system, including areas linked to the Hursthill 1 and 2 reservoirs, also experienced outages during Phase One, despite not being scheduled for shutdown. Water only began trickling back mid-week, highlighting the system’s vulnerability and the knock-on effects of bulk supply disruptions. While water access has been restored to many areas, concerns remain that Phase Two disruptions may bleed into Christmas, as Johannesburg Water has confirmed that the full recovery of these systems takes several days after the maintenance ends.
Phase Two will run from 6pm on Friday, 19 December, until midnight on Sunday, 21 December, and involves critical valve replacements and pipeline works on the Eikenhof system, another vital bulk supply feeder. During this 54-hour window, no water will be pumped into Johannesburg Water’s network from the affected meters. Residents in the following areas are most likely to feel the impact: These systems draw from Eikenhof, and the shutdown will reduce pressure and could causetemporary outages or weak flow, particularly in elevated suburbs.
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To reiterate, Joburg Water warned that normal supply may not immediately resume after midnight on 21 December, as reservoirs and tanks will need time to refill. Speaking to Daily Maverick, Dr Ferrial Adam, director of the civil society organisation WaterCAN, said the timing of the maintenance has heightened anxiety on the ground, particularly because recovery from Phase One took longer than initially communicated. Dr Adam explains that while Johannesburg Water has assured civil society that the Commando system should not be affected this time, residents in the south should still expect low pressure, intermittent supply or temporary outages, particularly in higher-lying areas Even once maintenance concludes, water may not return immediately. “When the work stops, the system still needs days to recover,” she said, raising concerns that some communities could be affected dangerously close to Christmas.
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