Pretoria - Although the water supply in Tshwane has returned to normal, more interruptions can be expected, depending on usage.
High-lying areas in the west of the city, such as Saulsville, Lotus Gardens and Laudium, and some areas in the north of Tshwane, such as Soshanguve, have been the hardest hit by recent interruptions.
Tshwane Metro Council deployed water tankers to some of the areas.
At the root of the problem were repairs to a major pipeline by Rand Water, after which the normal water pressure could not be restored.
To make matters worse, Eskom had a power failure at its Snowden high voltage substation at the weekend, which caused a failure at the Rand Water Zuikerbosch water treatment plant.
The plant supplies water to Tshwane and five other municipalities in Gauteng.
Yesterday, Pretoria News visited a number of areas in the city and found parked water tankers, dispatched by the City, with no staff in sight.
Residents in Laudium, who have had water issues for nearly a month, said they were grateful the supply was back but predicted the problems would soon return.
One resident said: “We had little to no water at all this past week but the water is back now.
“We are just not sure for how long or until when. The supply is very inconsistent.”
City spokesperson, Lindela Mashigo, said water cuts were likely to happen occasionally because Rand Water imposed restrictions in Tshwane from time to time.
“Rand Water identifies reservoirs where water is being used the most and they impose restrictions. Unfortunately, Laudium, Atteridgeville and Soshanguve are among the areas where water usage is high,” he said.
Pretoria News