Nurses, patients fetch water from tanks as taps turn dry at a hospital in Hammanskraal

Nurses and patients at Jubilee Hospital in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria, fetch water for flushing toilets and bathing from Jojo tanks as the area has lost water supply due to fire at a substation. 

Although the fire at Pyramid substation happened two weeks ago when it was vandalised, its effects reached a boiling point this week as both Jubilee Hospital workers and schools in the area had to scramble around to get water. The Leeuwkraal Dam was contaminated because the Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Works did not have electricity and the plant had to temporarily cease operations and, consequently, discharged untreated sewage into the Apies River, which feeds the Leeuwkraal Dam.

This has left thousands of people without water, although the city's technicians are working around the clock to rectify the problem. 

Yesterday, patients and workers at the hospital were seen fetching water with buckets from the six Jojo tanks stationed in the yard. The hospital had to delay certain surgeries and only prioritised emergencies, while critical patients were taken to nearby hospitals.  

Hospital CEO Julia Aphane said they had to divert 30 pupils from Limpopo who had been taken to the hospital for suspected poisoning due to lack of water.

“Service delivery is still continuing ... we are only delaying selective procedures, but our casualty department and outpatient department are running as normal.

We had to delay our theatres because one must scrub before operating and scrubbing involves more than three or four officials who must scrub ... and a lot of water is needed.

—  Hospital CEO Julia Aphane

“One must remember that the hospital doesn’t only cater for Hammanskraal but also for Rustenburg in North West and Limpopo. If we close our doors, we would be closing them to many people in the community who truly need our services,” Aphane said.

Aphane said the hospital has not had running water from taps for two weeks.

“We have been receiving deliveries of the JoJo tanks from the municipality since Monday. We have six JoJo tanks at the hospital, and they are all connected to the service points. Water is delivered into the JoJo tanks twice a day. Normally, if we don’t have a water issue, we don’t get deliveries, but due to the crisis, they come in the morning, and if the tanks run empty, we call them to return and deliver more water,” said Aphane.

She said the water from the tanks is used for ablution facilities and bathing.

“The critical area that is being affected right now is our theatre because that is where our surgeries are. We had to delay our theatres because one must scrub before operating and scrubbing involves more than three or four officials who must scrub ... and a lot of water is needed," Aphane said.

An elderly patient waiting in the queue for consultation spoke on the inconvenience.

“It’s bad, they told us that if we wanted to use the bathroom and the water in the small drums is finished, we have to get water from the Jojo tanks and bring them to the toilet,” the patient said.

Tshwane senior official Sipho Madhlabane said the Leeuwkraal dam is highly contaminated.

“We need to flush the dam before we can start the plant. Just standing at the dam, you can smell the sewer from the river, so we cannot pump the water into the plant, it would further contaminate the plant. The plant is not designed to treat raw sewage,” he said.

Chairperson of Utilities Services in the Metro, Flora Monama, asked for communities to be patient and to give them until the weekend to solve the problem.

A teacher at Hammanskraal West Primary School said they send pupils home by 12pm everyday because of the water crisis.

"These children need to eat and use the bathrooms, but we don't have water. Our hands are tied," said the teacher.

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