Most residents of South Africa’s Gauteng provincial municipalities should store water as taps are expected to run dry on Thursday due to repairs of an important water pipeline, Rand Water Company has announced.
The company has issued Gauteng’s main two cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria with an alert, warning the residents of the water shortage due to the planned maintenance.
Six municipalities in the two cities are expected to be affected by a 53-hour planned water outage from Thursday afternoon, Rand Water said.
Affected municipalities are Ekurhuleni Metropolitan, Tshwane Metropolitan, Thembisile Hani Local Municipality, Victor Khanye Local Municipality, Govan Mbeki Local Municipality and Lesedi Local Municipality.
The outage is to complete a tie-in of a newly installed pipeline into the existing old pipeline, Rand Water said.
“Residents are urged to use water sparingly during this time to prevent reservoirs from running dry,” the water company said.
It added: “Please store sufficient water to sustain you for the duration of the shutdown. However, water tankers will be on standby as an alternative water supply.”
NM/jn/APA