Rand Water is planning a shutdown of pipelines next week, but says there's no need to panic. 

In a statement on Monday, the bulk water supplier said it would be shutting its B11 and B19 pipelines to perform maintenance. 

These pipelines supply most major Gauteng municipalities: Mogale City, Rand West, City of Johannesburg, Merafong, Rustenburg, Madibeng, Metsimaholo and Emfuleni.

Spokesperson Justice Mohale said the shutdown would take place from Monday to Wednesday.

It forms part of the final phase of Rand Water's B19 pipeline augmentation programme, which will increase the volumes of the B19 pipeline to ensure a continued sustainable water supply.

According to the statement, the B19 pipe is currently only connected to B5 pipeline. The shutdown will enable an integration of three pipelines: B5, B11 and B19.

Mohale said the statement was made to notify residents who may have interruptions to their water supply or to the pressure of the water supply. 

“We've given our customers — the municipalities — 21-days' notice so they can ensure their reservoirs are full. In doing so their customers should not be affected.

“We have been working on the pipelines daily and people do not realise we've shut down an area because there is no change to their water supply. 

“Because this is a big shutdown we've let people know because there may be changes in the water pressure if the reservoirs are low. Especially in high-lying areas, if the water pressure is very low it may result in a short outage.

“Low-lying areas may experience no change at all.”

Rand Water has asked residents to use water sparingly.

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