Johannesburg Water undertaking largest repair job in its history

There were major leaks identified on the main water pipeline that runs through the Linbro Park landfill site, MMC for environmental and infrastructure services Nico de Jager said in a statement.

This affected residents of Sandton, Bryanston, Woodmead, Morningside, Alexandra, Linbro Park and the surrounding areas.

"This is the largest repair job ever done by Joburg Water on a main line," said De Jager.

He said the burst pipe was about 35m deep, on a very unstable landfill, and they could not "risk burying our employees alive during the maintenance process".

De Jager said the burst pipe had affected water supply and had to be "throttled" to avoid reservoirs from running dry.

They hoped to flush the system around 12:00 on Wednesday and open the reservoirs, he said.

"Reservoirs shut down with 1m of water left, so that they will have time to refill.

"High-lying areas such as Bryanston will take longer to receive water due to the height in relation to pumping capacity."

Estimated time of repair was 13:00, provided there were no further complications.

Water tanks were available at the following points:

- Morningside Clinic

- Tara Hospital

- Alexandra: [6th avenue, 13th avenue Alex & Vasco, 14th avenue Alex & Vasco, 14th avenue Alex & Rooth, 12th avenue Alex, 15th avenue Alex & Selborne, 15th avenue Alex & Rooth, 16th avenue Alex & Vasco, 16th avenue & Selborne, 17th avenue & Selborne, 18th avenue & Vasco]

- Marist Brothers School

- Sandton City

- Benmore Gardens Shopping Centre

- Sandown Old Age Home

- Sandown High School

- Troop centre at corner Rivonia and Oxford

- Bryanston shopping centre

- Petervale shopping centre

- Bryanston Primary School

- SPCA in Lonehill

DM