Johannesburg residents are bracing for another period of low water pressure and limited supplies as Johannesburg Water performs Phase Three of its scheduled maintenance operation. The organisation has also advised that residents affected by contaminated drinking water in Bezuidenhout Valley wait for the all-clear. Johannesburg residents have been warned to brace for more water outages as Rand Water and Joburg Water begin the third leg of maintenance on their systems.
This leg will see the Eikenhoff pumping station shut down for 54 hours, running from 6-8 January 2026, leading to low water pressure and limited or no water supplies. Residents have been warned that it could take up to seven days for water supplies to be fully restored. At a media briefing held at the Turbine Hall in Newtown on Monday, 5 January, Joburg Water advised that the planned maintenance work would affect the following reservoirs: Reminder of the#RandWaterMaintenancetomorrow, 6 Jan 2026 at 04:00 – 8 Jan 2026 at 08:00.
This maintenance will affect parts of Soweto and Roodepoort.Once maintenance is completed it will take between 3-5 days for recovery.📍 Affected Areas 👇#JoburgServices#WeServceJoburgpic.twitter.com/0TTI84hWLM Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero said reservoirs had been filled up to 70% in advance of the maintenance programme to manage high demand and that both roaming and stationary tankers would be deployed to supply the affected areas. “We acknowledge the inconvenience that this maintenance will cause to households, businesses and institutions across Johannesburg,” Morero said. “However, this work is essential to safeguarding the city’s long-term water security, and we will continue to work with Rand Water and key stakeholders to manage this maintenance, prioritising our residents’ interests.” The Phase 1 maintenance period, which took place from 13-15 December, resulted in frustrated residents in areas such as Midrand losing water supply for nearly a week.Daily Maverick has reportedthat during Phase One, parts of the Commando System linked to Hurst Hill 1 and 2 unexpectedly faced outages despite not being scheduled for maintenance.
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However, Joburg Water said the Phase Three maintenance plans were smaller in scope and should lead to fewer disruptions. It said that Phase Two, originally scheduled for 19-21 December, was halted due to a technical failure and would take place later this year, before June 2026. It was unable to provide exact details as the maintenance schedule had not yet been set by Rand Water.
On 30 December, Joburg Water issued an alert, warning residents of water supplies contaminated by sewage along Albertina Sisulu Road after residents complained about smelly tap water. The contamination affected parts of the Johannesburg CBD and Bezuidenhout Valley. Morero said the contaminated water system had since been flushed with chlorine.
The contamination was a result of a blocked sewer manhole leaking into a damaged pipe. Both the affected manhole and pipe had since been fixed.
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