Pretoria – With more taps running dry in parts of Tshwane, the Gauteng Department of Health on Sunday said it dispatched water tankers to the Kalafong Provincial Tertiary Hospital located in Atteridgeville.
Low reservoir levels have seen the capital city implement Stage 2 water restrictions.
The low water levels are blamed on Eskom’s perennial load-shedding and increased water consumption during the warm weather.
Staff at the hospital complained that the hospital had been without tap water from Saturday.
On Sunday, the Gauteng Department of Health admitted the water outage has led to the hospital’s two reservoirs, which have the capacity of 748 000 and 480 000 litres, running extremely low.
“Contingency measures include increasing the number of water tankers bringing water to the facility and the frequency of supply to keep operations going,” said MEC for Health and Wellness Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko.
“Already about 60 000 litres have been delivered to the facility.
“There is provision to make water available for the patients across the wards and we will continue to monitor the situation in Tshwane closely.”
The City of Tshwane on Sunday issued another public communication on the water situation, which further indicated that the Atteridgeville HL reservoir was empty.
Rand Water, the water utility company, had over the weekend informed the municipality that it was experiencing challenges with their system, which were impacting on the supply of water to the city.
Last week the City of Tshwane MMC for utility services and regional operations, Daryl Johnston, warned that unless water consumption was reduced high-lying areas were running the risk of draining reserves.
Meanwhile, the City of Tshwane said Sunday: “There was no overnight supply from the water utility, Rand Water, to the Garsfontein reservoir, and as a result, the reservoir level dropped to 23%”.
The City of Tshwane said it has requested the water utility to channel more water to the reservoir.
“Elardus Park reservoir is at 53%, which is comforting, while Mooikloof has slightly improved overnight from 16% to 21% this morning. At this stage, Grootfontein reservoir is battling to recover – it is at 2.8%,” the City of Tshwane said.
“The water utility’s Bronberg reservoir that supplies Lombardy, Shere AH, Silver Lakes as well as parts of Mamelodi East improved overnight, and is currently at 40%. Residents have confirmed that they are receiving water this morning.
”Some started receiving water from Saturday night. Parkmore HL and LL reservoirs that supply Menlyn and other areas such as Lynnwood Manor, Garsfontein and Faerie Glen are safe at 65% and 94%, respectively.”
The City of Tshwane said in the west, The Heights reservoirs, the City’s holding reservoirs, were full at 96%, “which is excellent”.
“Laudium and Atteridgeville HL reservoirs, which started showing signs of recovery last night, have regrettably regressed,” the City of Tshwane said.
“Currently, the Atteridgeville HL is empty again, while the Laudium reservoir is sitting at 13% and Lotus Gardens reservoir at 29%.”
“Magaliesberg/Rosslyn reservoirs, which supply the Pretoria North and Rosslyn areas, are adequate at 40%, sufficient for residents’ needs for today. Soshanguve reservoirs are still struggling at 20%.”
The City of Tshwane said it has dispatched tankers in areas experiencing outages for continuous supply of water.
“All these water challenges point to water demand which outstrips supply,” the City of Tshwane said.
“The ongoing loadshedding also results in reservoirs not filling up to sufficient levels, which in turn affects the pressure in the distribution pipe network.
“The low pressure can lead to elevated neighborhoods experiencing reduced supply or no water at all.”
