The City of Johannesburg has warned residents to use water sparingly after water levels at the Vaal Dam dropped to just below 55%.

“Vaal Dam [is] sitting at 53.1% and no water transfers to the Vaal Dam system will be possible until November 30 due to maintenance,” said the municipality.

The city appealed to residents to not water their gardens between 6am and 6pm, to take shorter showers and shallower baths, and to re-use water.

An announcement was made that the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) would stop pumping water for the next two months.

This system provides 27% of the water supply to the Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS), but despite this, government said, there was no cause for alarm so long as water use was reduced.

Level 1 water restrictions are in place and according to department spokesperson Sputnik Ratau, other catchment areas in Mpumalanga, Free State, Northern Cape and North West would continue feeding the system.

The restriction went in place on 1 September 2019 and will stay so until 31 March 2020.