Mogale City steps up efforts to restore Kagiso water supply

Mogale City Local Municipality has intensified efforts to restore and stabilise water supply in Kagiso following recent power outages that disrupted water distribution to the area.

The municipality says technical teams are working around the clock to improve the reliability of the system while emergency water tankers continue serving affected communities.

The water supply problems were caused by a power outage at the Zuikerbosch Water Treatment Plant, followed by another outage at the Eikenhof Booster Station, placing additional strain on the water network supplying Kagiso.

The disruptions affected an existing programme aimed at improving water monitoring, reliability and recovery.

On 28 August, Gauteng MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Infrastructure Development, Jacob Mamabolo, appointed a technical team to assist with the intervention.

The team includes experts from Rand Water, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), the Department of Water and Sanitation, and Mogale City’s engineering and technical teams.

Following the latest power disruptions, Executive Mayor Lucky Sele and MEC Mamabolo met with Rand Water on 14 September to strengthen the coordinated response and speed up efforts to restore a reliable water supply to residents.

Mayor Sele said government has a responsibility to ensure all institutions involved work together using accurate technical information to resolve the crisis.

“When an essential service is under pressure, government must move beyond simply acknowledging the disruption. The responsibility is to bring the relevant institutions and technical capacity around the same table,” he said.

He added that the municipality would continue overseeing the intervention until the water system is fully stabilised.

The municipality said several technical upgrades are already underway. A dedicated chamber has been completed at the municipal off-take pipe, while excavation work has also been completed to install monitoring equipment and construct a check-meter chamber.

Data loggers and a telemetry system will also be installed to monitor water flow throughout the network and help engineers identify constraints and improve system performance.

As a temporary measure, eight of the municipality’s 13 water tankers have been deployed to Kagiso to provide water to affected communities.

Officials reported that the water tower had recovered to an adequate level, while the reservoir remains low but stable as recovery efforts continue.

Residents have been urged to use water responsibly wherever supply has been restored, as excessive consumption could slow the recovery of storage infrastructure. The municipality has also requested a consolidated technical report to guide the next phase of corrective measures.

MEC Jacob Mamabolo said the challenges facing communities require cooperation across all spheres of government, adding that no single sphere of government can resolve such issues alone.

Mogale City said it will continue working with Rand Water and technical experts while providing residents with verified updates as progress is made.