Hospitals in Johannesburg are not severely affected by the Rand Water supply shutdown as some have in-house reservoirs while others have boreholes on site, says the Gauteng department of health.
The shutdown affects Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Lenasia South Hospital, Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital, South Rand Hospital, Bheki Mlangeni District Hospital and Helen Joseph Hospital, as well as a number of clinics in Johannesburg.
“All the hospitals currently have supply of water through tankers, with Rahima Moosa and Helen Joseph having trucks permanently pumping water to the facilities’ reservoir and roof tanks respectively.
“Helen Joseph also has a high-pressure pump to boost the water movement to the upper floors in the facility. The clinics have storage tanks and will be regularly supplied with water by Joburg Water,” said Gauteng health spokesperson Motalatale Modiba.
He said the department's officials are on standby throughout the shutdown to provide support to affected hospitals and clinics.
Asked how much water is needed for a hospital to run effectively, Modiba said no two hospitals are the same size.
“Some hospitals have in-house reservoirs other have tanks only. Some also have boreholes while others don’t. Kalafong Hospital has two water reservoirs which have capacities of 748,000 and 480,000 litres respectively.
“Pholosong Hospital, has two in-house reservoirs with capacities of 60,000 and 100,000 litres respectively, which are always at 100% capacity via an auto-refill system. Water is then distributed from the reservoirs to different areas within the hospital.
“Both Helen Joseph and Rahima Moosa Mother and Child have tanks and boreholes on site,” said Modiba.
He said the reservoirs and tanks are able to insulate the facilities for a short period when there are supply interruptions, but when the situation becomes prolonged these are never enough to meet the facilities’ water demands.
“Water tankers are used to refill the reservoirs and the in-house tanks on a continuous basis in situations where you have prolonged supply interruption.”
TimesLIVE
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