Rand Water and Johannesburg Water are reviewing short- to medium-term interventions to deal with the current challenges plaguing the Hursthill water system.
The system supplies high lying areas that have historically been vulnerable to fluctuating bulk water supply during high demand seasons. Over the past years, the bulk supply system has also been under severe pressure owing to the increased water demand.
The entities, which have formulated and implemented a long-term solution for the system, have faced several challenges in recent weeks that have not been mitigated through Rand Water’s occasional operational adjustments to divert water from other areas as a short-term measure to help sustain the Hursthill system after bulk supply interruptions.
The short-term measure, which the water agency implements from time to time, has yielded no significant results of late.
“In the past weeks, both Rand Water and Johannesburg Water’s technical teams have been on the ground investigating with a view of finding other options to optimise the integrated supply systems,” the duo said in a statement.
On May 18, Rand Water undertook a pre-isolation shutdown at Eikenhof Pumping Station to prepare for the replacement of the G34/Q2 isolation valve.
During this pre-isolation shutdown, a power failure was experienced at the Vereeniging Water Treatment Plant which affected supply to the Hursthill system.
The Hursthill system has, following the shutdown and restoration, battled to recover to acceptable reservoir levels.
Before any gains were realised from the adjustments made to the distribution system by the technical teams, the Eikenhof pump station experienced power failures which further affected the system. Electricity supply has since been restored.
Meanwhile, Rand Water is finalising the construction of Station 5A and Johannesburg Water is finalising the designs of their booster station to the Hursthill Reservoir.
Once these projects are completed, there will be enough supply to the high lying areas of Hursthill.