Joburg residents have been urged to use water sparingly. This as parts of South Africa continue to experience a heatwave, which is expected to continue until the weekend.
Johannesburg Water says their critical water system is holding firm, however, residents should be mindful of how they use water.
The water utility briefed members of the media in Newtown Johannesburg. With temperatures reaching record highs of almost 40 degrees in some parts of the country, the human body’s water intake increases.
However, the City of Johannesburg’s inconsistent water supply has left residents thirsty from time to time. The Johannesburg Emergency Services urged residents to remain hydrated.
“Residents are urged to stay hydrated by drinking lots of water, residents are urged to stay away from direct sunlight especially between 11h00 and 15h00 in the afternoon, residents who are working directly into Sunlight are urged to take regular breaks as exposure to this extremely hot temperatures can cause heat exhaustion, heat cramps which might lead to heat stroke,” Joburg EMS Spokesperson, Robert Mulaudzi explains.
Affected provinces include Gauteng, Free State, North West, Northern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and KwaZulu-Natal. The heat wave has also affected Joburg Water’s ability to provide water to residents.
The Utility’s Acting General Manager Logan Munsamy says plans are in place to avoid a system collapse.
“We are monitoring our reservoirs and towers very intensely so we can detect any problems. we enforcing restrictions in terms of communities adhering to the restrictions and reducing overall consumption, we also have identified areas of high consumption and throttling valves in the system, which means we are partially closing valves at critical times to limit flows to ensure the reservoirs build up enough storage for the day that’s been happening on our critical areas.”
Munsamy says the prolonged hot dry weather could have damaging effects.
“in our water industry, we know the weather plays a crucial part in the supply and delivery of the water services to our customers, although as it stands the system is healthy and showing an upward trajectory in terms of the reservoir levels the heat wave conditions is always a risk. We are urging customers to use water sparingly and report any leaks to be attended to,” Munsamy explains.
The heatwave is expected to dissipate by the end of the week.
Video: Water systems holding up during heatwave
