JOHANNESBURG - As Gauteng residents buckle under the weight of impending water and power disruptions, both Rand Water and Eskom have urged residents to use the resources sparingly.
Large parts of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane are expected to be hit with an 87-hour water outage to allow Rand Water to carry out maintenance work on the key B16 pipeline from Friday until Tuesday next week.
The five-day water disruption is coupled with a severely constrained national grid following the breakdown of generation units at several power stations.
Gauteng residents are already having to navigate stage 2 power cuts amid a cold snap but they might be saddled with serious water shortages on top of this come Friday.
Rand Water has urged customers to prepare for reduced water supply in large parts of the province as a result of the overdue maintenance of its aging infrastructure.
The bulk water supplier's Eddie Singo said that this maintenance project could not be put off any longer.
"The 19th of August until 23 August we are now going to cut and remove the old one and then install the brand new one."
On the power front, Eskom is already battling to keep the lights on and has warned that the country is likely to be saddled with disruptive and costly power cuts at short notice.
