Johannesburg Water has warned of water supply problems as a result of an increase in Eskom load shedding.
The water utility said that residents should check load shedding schedules as water supply does get affected by power outages.
“In the event of load shedding for the duration of four hours and more, pockets of areas with the City of Johannesburg will have water shortages or even low pressure because Johanessburg Water uses electricity to pump water from the reservoir into the towers,” it said.
Johannesburg Water urged residents to make arrangements by ensuring they have water to last the duration of the outage when they are affected by load shedding.
The group said it now in the process of putting together the necessary contracts to lease mobile generators to assist as and when the city experiences such outages.
“Please do not log a call if your area is experiencing load shedding as pressure tends to be low and will only improve when the towers start functioning when the power is restored.
“Residents are also advised to use water sparingly and that level 1 water restrictions are still in place in the City of Johannesburg.”
Eskom announced stage 3 load shedding to stage 3 Friday (4 September) with rolling blackouts set to continue into the weekend. Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented from 08h00 to 22h00 on Friday, with further changes and forecasts for the weekend to be announced as they occur.
“In order to replenish emergency generation reserves, load shedding will continue into the weekend. The system remains unreliable and vulnerable,” it said. Generation units have returned at Tutuka, Matla, Majuba and Camden power stations, however two additional units have suffered breakdowns.
Unplanned outages amount to 11,185MW, with a further 5,040MW out in planned maintenance.