Midrand residents frustrated after a week without water

The water outages in large areas of Midrand since last week have brought misery to residents, some of whom said it was impossible for them to go to work, while others expressed alarm at the unhygienic conditions.

Some schools have asked children not to attend school and instead learn via online platforms.

Johannesburg Water (JW) said on Tuesday it was notified by bulk supplier Rand Water in January of emergency repair work at the Palmiet pump station, which necessitated the isolation and repair of critical pump infrastructure.

JW said while the work was initially expected to be completed in a short time, technical and operational delays had prolonged the repair process.

JW said this was followed by a power trip at Rand Water’s Zuikerbosch treatment plant on January 27, which further affected the Eikenhof and Zwartkoppies supply systems.

On January 31, an additional power failure occurred at the Palmiet pump station, further destabilising the system.

Viasha Naidoo, from Carlswald, said she had not lived in the area for long, having moved to Midrand in April last year.

“Initially, everything was fine. However, from mid-December, we began experiencing frequent water and power outages. If it was not the water, it was the electricity,” Naidoo said.

She said the water supply had been off since last Wednesday.

“It briefly returned on Thursday, went off again on Friday, and as of (Tuesday) morning when I left for work, there was still no water. This has made daily life extremely difficult. While water tankers are being sent around, this is not a sustainable solution.”

Naidoo said the situation was especially hard for the elderly and for families with children.

“Managing for one or two days is understandable, but going almost a week without water is unacceptable. People are required to stand and wait at tankers, sometimes for over an hour, only to be told that the tanker is empty by the time it is their turn.”

She said while residents received three updates a day from Johannesburg Water, they did not provide solutions.

“They simply repeat what has already happened, with different times and wording, without any clear resolution.”

She said Midrand had become severely overpopulated.

“Housing developments continue to increase, but the infrastructure is not being upgraded or properly maintained to keep pace with this growth. While water outages affect many parts of Johannesburg, Midrand appears to suffer the worst and is often the last area to recover.”

She said the outages affected large parts of Midrand, including Carlswald, Vorna Valley, Waterfall and areas around New Road.

For example, the Virgin Active gym in Carlswald did not have water but Virgin Active in Kyalami did. “So when we were going to shower there in the morning, there were five women in front of me waiting to shower.

She said not all employers were understanding when staff could not attend work due to a lack of water.

“Some schools sent children home early. This disrupts livelihoods, education and basic dignity.”

Naidoo said water was a basic human right and to not have it was unhygienic and unsafe.

“I am ill with flu and cannot even take a proper shower. On a previous occasion, we stored tanker water for a few days and mould developed in the containers. This raises serious concerns about the cleanliness and safety of tanker-supplied water, making residents reluctant to use it.”

Naidoo said the problem would continue as long as there were power plant failures and insufficient maintenance of water infrastructure.

She said the core problem was the lack of long-term planning and maintenance.

Naidoo said authorities needed to focus on how the systems would be maintained in the future, rather than responding only when failures occured.

Another resident, Helen Schoeman, from Noordwyk, said her family moved to Midrand in 2007 and for many years had no water problems.

“At that time, there were far fewer complexes and developments. The situation has changed drastically.

“My question is simple: when all these new complexes were approved, was the infrastructure ever upgraded to support them? From what we can see, the answer is no. The infrastructure is not being serviced or maintained, and it is now collapsing under the strain. The same applies to electricity,” Schoeman said.

What we want to know is: why is this happening now? After living here since 2007 without these problems, why has the situation deteriorated so badly?

—  Helen Schoeman, resident

Schoeman said residents experienced the same problem in December.

“Before Christmas, we were without water for a full week. Then the electricity was off for three days.

“In January, the same thing happened again. Some areas never experience load-shedding or water outages, yet we all pay the same rates and taxes.”

Schoeman said though there were tankers, elderly people and those without cars had trouble collecting water.

“If someone receives 20 litres of water, who is expected to carry it home? Many of us are washing out of buckets.”

She said to make matters worse, water tankers arrived during the day when most residents were at work, making them useless to those who needed them most.

“What we want to know is: why is this happening now? After living here since 2007 without these problems, why has the situation deteriorated so badly?”

Rand Water said on Tuesday Midrand had a longstanding problem of high water consumption exacerbated by the growth of formal and informal settlements.

“This problem is well understood by Johannesburg Water and the entity has embarked on upgrading the Midrand systems to augment supply in that area,” said Rand Water spokesperson Makenosi Maroo.

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