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Joburg water situation not a crisis - Gordhan

Posted by BLACK J

 

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Johannesburg - The water shortages in parts of Johannesburg were not a crisis because they could be managed, Co-operative Governance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Thursday.
"A crisis would be when a problem is unmanageable. [The] current issues are due to a mix of changing weather conditions, increased demand and general bad usage habits," he told reporters.
Mayor Parks Tau said the problems in the southern areas of Johannesburg started with a power failure.
"The water outage in the south was due to the power failure affecting our systems," he said, indicating people in high-lying areas were affected.

Tau said there was an emergency shut down for the Illovo water tower and the Sandton area to allow the system to recover.
Water tankers
Earlier the City of Johannesburg said three water tankers deployed following the shortages had been stolen in Westdene, Crown Gardens and South Hills.
Water towers in Brixton and Crown Gardens in Johannesburg almost ran dry this week when demand exceeded supply.
Johannesburg Water told News24 on Wednesday water tankers were deployed to parts of the city, the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital and the Helen Joseph Hospital.
The tankers were there to top up the hospitals' own water tanks.
Water was pumped back to the towers and supply appeared to be back on Thursday.
Rand Water supplies the municipality's water.