l3rato | Johannesburg Water

Over 15 000 reinstatements completed by Johannesburg Water

by l3rato | Mar 9, 2023 | 2023, Media Statement

Over 15 000 reinstatements completed by Johannesburg Water
Johannesburg Water is steadily making inroads in the City’s reinstatements backlog, one brick at a time.

Since 1 July 2022 to date, the Entity’s in-house technical teams have completed 15 205 reinstatements, which include small-scale restoration work on tarmac, paved, and concrete surfaces, backfilling, as well as the building of small valve boxes and chambers. A further 200 reinstatement jobs were done by contractors.

Considering the number of sites that needed to be restored when the Johannesburg Water took responsibility for reinstatements last year, the Entity has made some noteworthy progress.
This was revealed at the Reinstatements Media Session hosted by Johannesburg Water on Wednesday, 8 March 2023.

“The purpose of the media session was to give perspective to what the Entity is doing about the backlog of reinstatements around the City. We know that there are complaints from various regions about this issue and therefore we invited the media to show communities that we are actively addressing the matter,” said Johannesburg Water Spokesperson Puleng Mopeli.

Put simply, reinstatement is the process of closing a site – beneath a pavement or road – after it has been excavated to do water pipe replacements or repairs.

Prior to mid last year, the Johannesburg Roads Agency was responsible for the reinstatement jobs. “However, a decision was taken that Johannesburg Water would take over the responsibility of performing reinstatements on tarmac, paved, concrete, and stone surfaces. There are also grass surfaces that require minor reinstatement work that involves backfilling and compacting to normal ground level,” explained Johannesburg Water Senior Operations Manager Logan Munsamy.

Johannesburg Water uses both contractors and in-house teams to complete the work.
“The medium to large-scale work that includes paving, backfilling, concreting of surfaces, tarmac surfaces, and the building of valve boxes and chambers is outsourced to three service providers who share the workload among the regions. These service providers are appointed on a framework contract and have the necessary skills, equipment, and experience to undertake the magnitude of this work.”
Because of the enormity of the work, Johannesburg Water supplements capacity using in-house operator reinstatement teams.

“We have 10 depots in seven regions in the City of Johannesburg, which are strategically situated across the City to undertake service delivery issues. Each depot has an average of about four reinstatement teams. Some areas, like Soweto which is a larger region, have more.” The teams perform minor reinstatement works such as small-scale paving, concreting of surfaces, backfilling, and compaction. They are also geared up with the necessary skills and equipment to undertake small-scale reinstatement works.

“We have received some complaints about substandard workmanship or the slow pace at which some of the work is carried out. When we do become aware of such situations, we manage it according to our contract management process,” Munsamy reassured.

“This is indeed a mammoth task, but we are making progress slowly but surely. We do have our challenges; however, we intend to build more capacity as we go along. We have to be realistic about the backlog thus far, which cannot be eradicated overnight, either, but is being prioritised as it affects the safety of pedestrians and vehicle owners, as well as traffic flow management. Johannesburg Water is dedicated to providing optimal services. However, infrastructure in most suburbs is old, hence the frequency of repairs occurring more often than before. We do have capital upgrades every financial year, which we use to prioritise the most urgent jobs.”

Issued by: Puleng Mopeli

Logan Munsamy (centre) addressing the media on Wednesday, 8 March 2023.

A Johannesburg Water reinstatements team doing work at a site in Mulbarton on Wednesday, 8 March 2023.

Wednesday, 8 March 2023 (Morning)

by l3rato | Mar 8, 2023 | Interruptions

Daily water supply system status updates: Wednesday, 8 March 2023 (Morning)

Water supply status update by exception (i.e., areas affected due to supply constraint and not service interruption from occasional pipe burst).

Unplanned Interruptions

Johannesburg Water Customer Notice: Power interruption at Rand Water’s Zuikerbosch purification plant impacts pumping from three pump stations

The power failure at Rand Water’s Zuikerbosch purification plant is impacting the pumping capacity from Zwartkopjes pump station by 20%, Eikenhof pump station by 20% and Palmiet pump station by 75%. Technicians have been dispatched to attend to the problem.

The reduction in supply will affect Johannesburg Water infrastructure in Midrand, east of Johannesburg, south of Johannesburg, and the Commando system (Brixton, Crosby and Hursthill). Johannesburg Water is monitoring infrastructure affected and will be providing customers with further updates.

Johannesburg Water requests customers to reduce consumption during this period.

1. Suburb(s) Affected: Protea Glen extension 1 to 8
Start date: 07 March 2023 @ 19:00
End date: 08 March 2023 @ 12:00
Impact: No water
Reason: Commissioning of Protea Glen reservoir

2. Areas affected: Main Street and corner Luthuli Street, old Dobsonville
Street names: All Dobsonville and Messi Park
Date: 8 March 2023
Time: 08:00 – 19:00
Impact: No water
Reason: Repairing of 400mm AC pipeline

Planned Interruptions

1. Areas affected: Kew, The Gardens, Rembrandt Park, River Park, Glenhazel, Sandringham, Silver Mond, Lombardy East and West, Bramley, Bramley View, Wynberg, Athol Hurst and Alexandra.
Date: 07 March 2023
Time: 08:00 -17:00
Impact: No water
Reason: Bulk line valve installation

2. Areas affected: Naledi Ext.2 and Protea North
Date: 9 March 2023
Time: 07:00 – 16:00
Impact: No water
Reason: Chamber Fittings Configurations Retrofitting

3. Areas affected: Robindale Ext 1 Cnr Gondola/Jeeves, Malibongwe/Clovery, Balairs/Cloverly, Truman/Gaety, Maria, MacArthur/Cottage, Armitage/Cloverly, Jeeves/Cloverly, Truman/MacArthur, Gondola/Rooseveld, MacArthur/Roseveldt, Bellairs/Joana, Joana/Armitage in Robindale Ext1 9 Current Project in Phases 2)
Street names: Roosevelt and Gondola, Spar Commercial (Malibongwe), Cnr Gondola and Mare, Malibongwe and Boundry Town House, Jeeves and Boundary
Date: 13 March 2023
Time: 08:00 -18:00
Impact: No water
Reason: Tie – in new 110mm and 160mm into existing 160mm pipe network

4. Affected areas: Vorna Valley Ext 2, 13, 19, 21, 27, 43, 46, 50, 52, 53, 54,56, 57, 58, 60, 62, 63, 66, 67, 70, 72, 74, 76, 80, 83, 86, 92, 93, 97, 100, 102, 103, 104, 105 & 106. Halfway Gardens Ext 1, 3, 4, 5, 14, 17, 19, 24, 26, 57, 64, 66, 73, 77, 85, 86, 90, 91,94, 96, 97, 98, 101, 121 & 128. Waterval Ext 2 & 4

Street names: Pretorius & Jose Road, Howick Close, Mahai close, Mac-Mac Rd, Eugaries Rd, Bekker St, Mont Rose, Janadel Ave, Le Roux Ave, Neerlandia Rd, Fred Verseput Ave, East St, Asparagus Rd, Wilhelmina Place, Smuts Dr, Alexander Rd, 1st Rd, Van Heerden Ave, Old Rd, Kaufman Rd, Plume Rd, Periwinkel Rd, Smuts Close, Berger Rd, Rudi Neitz St, Langeveld Rd, Elias Rd, Jose St, Ridge Rd, Pretorius Rd, Gustav Preller St, Albertyn St, Coertze St, Visser St, Eton Close, Shady Lane

Date: 16 March 2023
Time: 09:00 – 21:00
Impact: No water
Reason: Tie – in of new infrastructure

Residents are again requested to observe level-1 water restrictions implemented from 1 September to 31 March, which prohibits the use of hosepipes to water gardens, wash cars, clean driveways but use grey water instead, fill up swimming pools and water features between 6 am and 6 pm. This is to ensure that systems are kept stable throughout the coming months. We urge residents to report any form of vandalism and theft of water infrastructure to 0800 00 25 87.

Residents are encouraged to subscribe on our website, to our SMS notification service for alerts on planned or unplanned service interruptions.

More information can be obtained on:
Twitter: @JHBWater
Facebook: Johannesburg Water
Website: https://www.johannesburgwater.co.za

Customer service inquiries:
24-hour Hotline: 011 688 1699/ 086 056 2874
SMS line: 076 333 5052

Email: Customer@jwater.co.za

Johannesburg Water strengthens relations with stakeholders

by l3rato | Mar 7, 2023 | 2023, Media Statement

Media Statement

07 March 2023

Johannesburg Water strengthens relations with stakeholders

In an effort to fortify the existing working relationship between Johannesburg Water and its stakeholders, the Entity hosted an engagement session with gated communities and sectional title holders.

The forum was held on Monday, 6 March 2023 at the Entity’s Cydna Laboratory in Houghton. This is part of Johannesburg Water’s commitment to improve customer and stakeholder satisfaction by enhancing stakeholder engagement programmes.

These stakeholder engagement sessions also serve as a platform for stakeholders to voice their concerns on any service delivery issues they may have.

Johannesburg Water gave an overview of the Company, performance highlights and the challenges experienced during the 2021/22 Financial Year, the hurdles projected going into the new financial year, as well as the interventions in place to mitigate those hurdles. Operations, Meter Reading, and Credit Control departments gave the audience insight on their processes and procedures.

Service delivery concerns raised by stakeholders included credit control and billing issues, as well as the turnaround time for reinstatements.

Furthermore, one of the major topics that were raised was the ongoing issue of water and sewer infrastructure renewals backlog. The replacement value of water and sewer infrastructure renewal backlog is currently sitting at R103 billion due to underfunding.

“We require R2 billion a year to invest in our infrastructure; however, the actual investment rate annually is restricted to R1 billion a year. So, that year-on-year deficiency accumulates over time, however the Entity is sourcing alternative funding.” explained Johannesburg Water’s General Manager: Strategy, Monitoring and Evaluation, Jones Mnisi.

“The funding model we have started implementing is to approach external private businesses and state-owned entities.”

A follow-up feedback session will be held in the next financial year.

Tuesday, 7 March 2023 (Morning)

by l3rato | Mar 7, 2023 | Interruptions

Daily water supply system status updates: Tuesday, 7 March 2023 (Morning)