Widespread water shortages likely in Tshwane after equipment failure

The City of Tshwane says it has received notification from Rand Water about a possible water supply interruption in large parts of the city due to flooding at an engine room of the Zuikerbosch water treatment plant.

City spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the flooding occurred when the water utility was fixing a major water leak on the B8 pipeline from Zuikerbosch water treatment plant to the Mapleton booster pumping station on Wednesday.

“The incident resulted in the reduction of pumping capacity at the Mapleton and Eikenhof booster stations. This caused all Rand Water reservoirs to be depleted, some of which supply Tshwane areas,” he said.

On Wednesday, Joburg Water released a notice on the emergency shutdown at Eikenhof pump station.

“Please note that there is a flooding issue at Rand Water's Zuikerbosch treatment plant that will affect the Eikenhof pump station. The engine room that flooded supplies Mapleton and Eikenhof booster stations. This affects the commando system [(comprising Brixton, Crosby and Hursthill]. Some of the motors were submerged in water. The return to service is not known at this stage,” it said.

Mashigo said Rand Water told the city on Thursday, that all equipment that was flooded had been repaired and pumping resumed from Thursday night.

“Restoration was achieved this morning [Thursday] and both the Mapleton and Eikenhof booster pumping stations are now pumping at full capacity,” he said.

However, Mashigo said the Mapleton system that supplies Tshwane suffered the greatest impact and might take more than two weeks to fully recover.

Residents were asked to use water sparingly.

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