Residents of Westbury, western Johannesburg, have expressed their deep frustrations over lack of water since Monday.
Rand Water warned of 54-hour water pressure reductions in parts of Gauteng as the utility is doing maintenance of infrastructure.
Ingrid Wilson, 65, told Sowetan that on Saturday, she filled her 200l drum with water after she received information that Westbury will be affected.
Wilson said a municipal truck came to deliver water to the community on the day. The mother of three said the water she filled up will have run out by the end of today.
“I only have a little bit of water left. I used the water for bathing, cooking, washing dishes and for the toilet. I am really sad there is no water coming out of our taps for two days.
“I am really worried. I do not know what I am going to do tomorrow. My children have not been able to go to school because they cannot bathe,” said Wilson.
Similarly, Berry Legrancie, 49, bemoaned the unhygienic conditions. “I cannot bathe. My children have not gone to school and if you don’t bathe you stink. It is hot, you start sweating, on top of that you do not bathe and will not smell nice.”
Legrancie said at the weekend he took three small 5l buckets to fill them up with water.
“I used that water to drink, cook and wash dishes. Now I have to ask some of my neighbours who managed to fill up lots of water for help,” said Legrancie.
The G Barbershop in the area is used to receiving about 10 clients a day. However, in the past two days there has been no water to work with.
Employee Dorca Sendela, 25, said: “I am bored. No customers, no pay for us.”
Joburg Water spokesperson Eleanor Mavimbela said an additional water tanker was placed at Columbine Court in Westbury yesterday afternoon in addition to the ones dispatched there on Monday.
“It is important for residents to note how important it is to log calls and alert us when they do not have water so we can act swiftly to assist,” said Mavimbela.
No water tankers could be seen in the area.
In Kagiso, on the West Rand, residents said they have water but coming out at a lower pressure level.
Tebogo Zengele, 43, of extension 11 said: “This water cut has affected us a lot. I do not have enough water to bathe and make my tea as usual. Fortunately my children were able to bathe on Monday and today [yesterday morning] so that they can go to school.”
Mavimbela said high consumption yesterday has placed water supplies at the Rand Water Meredale reservoir at a critical level.
Meredale supplies Joburg Water’s reservoirs and towers in Soweto‚ Crosby‚ Northcliff‚ Crown Gardens‚ Hursthill and Roodepoort.
This means that these areas will soon have low water pressure or no supply at all‚ and will be reliant on water tankers that will be brought in to supply residents.
The Yeoville reservoir has also been affected by reduced supply and high customer consumption‚ Mavimbela said.
Joburg Water has issued an urgent appeal to customers to reduce water usage as much as possible to avoid more systems being depleted.
“Reduced consumption will assist in the recovery period after the outage‚” said Mavimbela‚ acknowledging that the system will need time to fill up once the maintenance project has been completed. – Additional reporting by Gill Gifford
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