Johannesburg Water’s water supply systems are severely constrained, with high demand and excessive draw-off limiting the recovery of reservoirs and towers. This is resulting in low water pressure, intermittent supply and prolonged outages in various areas.

Johannesburg Water acknowledges the frustration experienced by affected residents.

Technical teams are actively reconfiguring the network and implementing targeted throttling to balance available supply, support reservoir recovery and stabilise distribution across affected systems.

These interventions involve adjusting water flows and pressures to manage available storage and improve supply to struggling parts of the network. Customers may experience reduced pressure or temporary supply interruptions while these measures are underway.

Recovery will vary between systems and will depend on sustained inflows and reduced demand.

Impacted systems

Systems experiencing constraints or requiring active management include:

• Commando: Crosby, Brixton and Hursthill supply areas.
• Central: Parktown, Berea, Yeoville, Randjieslaagte, Linksfield and Alexander Park
  systems.
• Sandton: Bryanston, Illovo and Morningside.
• Midrand: Grand Central, President Park and Erand systems.
• Randburg–Roodepoort: Honeydew, Cosmo City and Waterval Tower.
• Soweto and southern areas: Power Park, Chiawelo, Meadowlands, Zondi, Crown Gardens and Eagles Nest.
• Deep South: Lawley, Ennerdale, Lenasia and Orange Farm systems.

The extent of interruptions varies across these supply areas, with higher-lying areas particularly impacted when reservoir and tower levels decline.

Strengthening water use restrictions

To strengthen existing demand management measures, Johannesburg Water has proposed more stringent Level 1 water use restrictions, targeting a reduction of approximately 15% in current demand. The proposed measures include:

• No irrigation between 06:00 am and 18:00 pm
• Compulsory spray nozzles for hosepipes
• No hosing down of hard surfaces
• No dampening of building sand

Additional restrictions proposed.

• All City of Johannesburg properties and its entities to stop the irrigation of parks, public spaces, and gardens.
• The City of Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) and its contractors to stop using potable water for road construction purposes and instead utilise treated effluent from
  any of the six Wastewater Treatment Works.
• Johannesburg Water and its contractors to stop using potable water for jetting activities and instead utilise treated effluent from any of the six (6) the Wastewater Treatment Works.

The proposal also provides for targeted reductions in water supplied to identified high consumption areas where other restrictions do not sufficiently reduce demand. These measures will be supported by safeguards to protect access to basic water supply and provide alternative supply to affected essential services.

Should demand continue to increase following implementation, Johannesburg Water will consider Level 2 water use restrictions. Any further restrictions will be communicated through official channels before implementation. Alongside these measures, Johannesburg Water continues to undertake leak detection, burst pipe repairs, pressure management and infrastructure rehabilitation to reduce water losses and improve system performance.

Johannesburg Water urges residents and businesses to reduce water consumption and avoid non-essential water use to support system recovery. The Entity will continue to provide updates on interventions, restoration progress and alternative water supply arrangements.