Sabotage is suspected in a City Power transformer fire that caused a water-supply failure to large parts of Johannesburg, mayor Herman Mashaba said on Tuesday.
"Day Zero" came unexpectedly to the southern and western parts of the city on Tuesday as water reservoirs began drying after power up due to a fire thatdestroyed a City Power transformer at Eikenhof, south of the city, while bottled water flew off the shelves at grocery stores in the western and southern suburbs.
A spokesperson for Shoprite confirmed that there has been a spike in demand for bottled water since Tuesday morning. “We are carefully monitoring the stock levels and will continue to replenish as best we can.”
A Joburg Water spokesperson said water tanks were being placed across the southern and western parts of the city. She also provided a list of reservoirs that have run dry, the number of which indicated that as much as half he city had no, or severely limited, piped-water supplies by Tuesday afternoon. She could not give an indication when supplies would be restored.
City Power said in a statement to the media on Tuesday that its engineers and technicians had worked throughout the night to fix the problem. Mashaba said a video had emerged that proved the fire had originated outside the transformer at the sub-station. “Further to this, the transformer appeared to have been maliciously damaged so that it would leak oil onto the fire," he said. "These facts are simply not consistent with a fire originating from an electrical fault.”
The sub-station has four transformers with one dedicated to Rand Water Board and another for residential and business customers. It supplies power to about 40% of Johannesburg, as well as parts of the West Rand and Rustenburg in the North West. The transformer destroyed in the fire was dedicated to Rand Water, which supplies Joburg Water. Due to the severity of the fire the other three transformers were also affected.
Mashaba said he expects power to Rand Water’s installation to be restored within 24 hours.
Anthony Turton, a water expert with water activists’ group Water Shortage SA, said on Tuesday that the fire and its consequences amounted to a systemic failure. “It is unthinkable that national key points, such as Rand Water’s installations, do not have permanent redundancy installations to avoid a single point of failure. This is what happened.”
Rand Water’s Johannesburg infrastructure supplies water to 45% of the population and supports 60% of the economy.
“Why is this national key point not secure?” said Turton. “The executives who run City Power and Rand Water are culpable and should be held to account. It makes a nonsense of the DA-run city’s promises on service delivery.”
Rand Water did not return Business Day’s calls.
Joburg Water provided a list of empty and inoperable reservoirs, which shows that in the south and west of the city only the Soweto reservoir, out of nine, is stable. The others are all either empty or switched off.
The utility’s spokesperson said the affected area was “quite vast” and that Joburg Water was unable to place tankers everywhere, so most would be placed at strategic points, such as clinics, schools and hospitals.
“We have arranged two water trucks to fill up the water tankers and roam within the affected areas,” she said, asking residents to use water sparingly during this time because turnaround times could not be established. Residents will receive regular updates on the official Joburg Water social media platforms, from councilors and through bulk text messages.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.