The City of Johannesburg is urging residents to use water sparingly.

A water supply shutdown of more than two days has started; this is so that Rand Water can install a new valve.

The utility is promising that this doesn’t mean affected areas will run out of water. Areas affected include the City of Johannesburg, Mogale City, Merafong, Emfuleni, and Rustenburg.

The water utility says R600-million investment project will see it increasing the raw water it extracts from the Vaal Dam.

It says the shutdown is necessary to install a special valve.

“We will be connecting a 2500 mm of a valve, between B19 and B11 pipeline. We are talking of a massive pipeline here and we do not want to underestimate the work that is before us,” said Rand Water Spokesperson, Justice Mohale.

“After we have done the work we have to test if everything is okay because we don’t want to make any mistakes.”

The City of Johannesburg is telling residents not to worry because its reservoirs are able to meet demand.

“Our reservoirs are built to hold up to 24-hours. That is if there is no flow into the reservoirs… but remember now the purification will still continue so water that is in the purification plant at the moment will still be in the purification plant,” said Environment and Infrastructure MMC, Nico De Jager.