Rand Water conducts emergency repairs on burst pipe in Joburg
The emergency shutdown is affecting the water supply in several Johannesburg areas.
Parts of Johannesburg have been left without water as Rand Water conducts emergency repairs on the F1/F39 bulk pipeline which burst.
Rand Water on Monday announced that pumping from the Eikenhof Pump Station was stopped to allow the repair work to be carried out.
The emergency shutdown is affecting the water supply across several Johannesburg water systems, mainly in the West Rand.
Here are the affected areas:
Soweto
Commando System
Randburg/Roodepoort System
Deep South
ALSO READ: These Joburg areas will experience water outages heading into the weekend
Residents in the affected areas will experience poor pressure to no water supply at all.
Rand Water Chief Executive Sipho Mosai, while on site, assured the residents that technicians are attending to the burst pipe.
Mosai said the repair work is difficult because of the high pressure of the water coming out of the pipe. He added that all 13 valves feeding into the pipe were closed on Sunday and Rand Water was also trying to reduce pressure from the Eikenhof system.
🚨Public Update🚨
Our Group Chief Executive, Mr @MosaiSipho_ would like to assure our customers that Rand Water's technical teams and contractors are on site and working tirelessly to repair the F39 pipe burst. @city_mogale @CityofJoburgZA @madibenglocalmu pic.twitter.com/uvCUAzfoj5 — Rand Water (@Rand_Water) May 19, 2025
Johannesburg Water said it is engaging with ward councillors to identify areas to allocate water tanks.
'The overall Johannesburg Water systems are stable with supply normal to fair,' it said.
The overall status of reservoirs and towers sits at critical for the Commando, Randburg, Central, Soweto and Deep South systems. The Midrand and Sandton systems are stable.
Water reduction
Johannesburg Water has implemented water reduction/throttling since 8 November 2024.
'To manage high consumption and support the recovery of our systems, Johannesburg Water will continue to enforce the restriction programme according to the separate schedule. This includes halting pumping at various pump stations to towers', Johannesburg Water said.
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