Johannesburg – Residents across Gauteng and Rustenburg can expect severely restricted water supply as a result of a power outage.
Rand Water’s Zuikerbosch water treatment works has been impacted by a power supply interruption from Eskom’s Snowden high voltage sub-station.
It’s understood the substation’s transmission lines were affected by a veld fire on Sunday afternoon.
Power utility, Eskom, managed to restore power to its substation in the early hours of Monday morning. But Rand Water warned it could take up to two days for it to pump water to supply Gauteng.
Rand Water’s chief operator Mahlomola Mehlo said it lost 60% of its production capacity, as a result of the power outage.
“There is a huge likelihood that there will be little to no water at all until we get this problem out of the way,” he said.
Even before the outage, Rand Water was already battling to meet demand and it was once again urging residents to use water sparingly.
