The City of Johannesburg started the week with a social media onslaught to try curb water usage after large outages‚ and as a heatwave warning was extended until Tuesday.

Johannesburg Water ?@JHBWater tweeted on Monday morning: “Morning Joburgers. It was not a great weekend with water shortages in some areas. Let’s kick Monday out of our way & start fresh 1/3  H”.

The utility followed this up with an appeal to residents’ good natures with “2/3 Can we agree no watering of gardens‚ no filling of swimming pools‚ no washing of cars using municipal water/hosepipe  H” and “3/3 Let’s use grey water to flush our toilets‚ water our flowers‚ wash cars‚ clean pavements. Let’s take shorter showers/bath to save water”.

Less diplomatic was the metro council’s official account ?@CityofJoburgZA‚ which on Sunday tweeted: “We are no longer appealing or encouraging you to save water. If you do not save water‚ you will be without water”.

Johannesburg Water reported on Monday that supply had been restored to Midrand‚ where taps had run dry over the weekend‚ but residents were asked “to only use water they need”.

Failing this‚ the utility warned‚ the “system will be affected if demand is not reduced. Water outage will be everyday”.

It also said that some residents Diepkloof would remain without water on Monday as the reservoir had not yet “recovered” after heavy usage. This could take up to three days.

The CBD‚ Braamfontein‚ Hillbrow‚ Yeoville‚ Doornfontein‚ Bez Valley‚ Kensington and Bertrams were also among the areas at risk of outages‚ Johannesburg Water said on Sunday.

Gauteng will remain in the grips of a heatwave on Monday‚ with temperatures reaching 34 degress in Johannesburg‚ but with the chance of “isolated thundershowers” bringing some relief later in the day.

The forecast high for the city for Tuesday is slightly lower at 31 degrees with a larger chance of thunderstorms‚ while Wednesday’s high is expected to dip back in the high-20s. – TMG Digital