Engineering News

Johannesburg Water has placed water tankers at strategic locations across the city to assist residents after a power outage caused by a fire at the Eikenhoff pump station resulted in large parts of Johannesburg being without water.

The fire, which happened on Monday night, affected the pump station which houses a transformer linked to Rand Water.

"This outage will affect the Eikenhoff pump station and cause a water supply disruption that will affect Greater Roodepoort, Randburg, Langlaagte, Southdale and the Soweto Areas," Johannesburg Water Communications manager Isaac Dhludhlu explained in a statement on Tuesday.

"Residents are asked to please use water sparingly during this time, as we do not have turnaround times," Dhludhlu said.

The cause of the fire at the station is yet to be determined.

"The transformer that was destroyed in the fire is the one dedicated to Rand Water.

However, due to the severity of the fire, the other three transformers were affected, with one partially burnt and the overhead line also damaged," City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said. He said they were confident that power would be restored to all four of its transformers at the Eikenhoff substation by the early hours of Wednesday morning.

"Our City engineers and technicians have been working through the night. A new transformer has been brought in and should be assembled by midnight," Mangena told News24.

Member of the Mayoral Committee on Environment and Infrastructure Services, Nico de Jager, told News24 that the team's efforts "look very promising".

Residents can keep an eye on the official social media platforms such as @CityPowerJHB and @JHBWater on Twitter for updates on the situation.