Johannesburg dry taps blamed on heatwave

Authorities in Johannesburg, South Africa's commercial hub, have blamed the ongoing heatwave for the lack of water in some parts of the city for several weeks.

The South African Weather Service on Monday, March 11, 2024, issued a warning over excessively high temperatures, with the peak expected on Wednesday, March 13.

The public water services provider says increased water consumption and lower reservoir levels are also fuelling the city's ongoing water crisis.

"The reduced flow into Johannesburg Water's Linden 1 and Blairgowrie reservoirs is mainly due to the increase in demand caused by hot weather conditions as well as reservoirs being critically low to empty," Johannesburg Water said on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday.

The company also said that its bulk supplier, Rand Water, will reconfigure its systems to boost supplies.

Water shortages are common in Johannesburg, and have triggered protests in the past.

The current water crisis began late last year but has worsened in recent weeks.

The water outages have not only hit homes but also public facilities.

Ageing infrastructure has also been blamed for the crisis.

Last week, multiple homes and facilities, including hospitals, were forced to buy water from tankers after lightning damaged a key pump station, cutting off water supply for several days.

Another pump station went offline last weekend after it was impacted by a power outage.