Some of the water tanks placed in areas affected by outages in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs have reportedly been stolen.

“Please note that some of the water tanks have been stolen. We are in the process of trying to replace them‚” Johannesburg Water said on Facebook on Thursday

Spokesperson Isaac Dhludhlu confirmed the tanks have been stolen‚ but could not say in which areas this happened. “I’ve requested information on the numbers of the tanks stolen and where they were stolen‚” he said.

He earlier said water has been partially restored in some parts of the areas affected by the outages.

“All affected areas should get water back by noon. We won’t open the water at full speed to avoid unnecessary bursts. We will push it slowly and advance pressure as the day goes by.”

Water tanks were deployed to several areas in the north of the metro after taps were cut off on Tuesday to avoid reservoirs running dry as a result of a burst pipe.