For three weeks Sinkwater residents in the City of Tswane were left without water following a pipe leak from a major pipeline.

The city has also experienced power cuts and the recent water interruption after a shutdown of Bynes Substation for essential maintenance work which took 11 hours.

According to The Citizen, residents from Rooihuiskraal faced eight daunting hours of emergency maintenance. Large parts of Mapleton Booster Station going into Vlakfontein and Bronberg reservoirs were left without water for 14 hours following the failure of equipment.

MMC for Utilities and Regional Operations, Daryl Johnston said the city received the water test results for Rethabiseng and Riamarpark.

“There is slight discolouration in the water and microbiological contaminants in the water that reaches residents. During our tests of the water at the reservoir and water is provided from our plant, the result was that the water is clean,” he said.

A few weeks ago, the City reported that the second water sample collected in parts of the metro had revealed that the drinking water in some areas was not clean or safe for consumption.

This came after residents in the city had complained about the water quality, stating that it was discoloured and smelly.

Johnston said, “That’s exactly why we were providing water tankers because we were indicating that there was a problem. That we totally accept and hence the move to provide water tankers to the community. But then those sort of things are compounded by protests which then prevent the actual supply of those tankers.”