Mense living on the Cape Flats should prepare for massive water supply disruptions on Thursday.
The City of Cape Town has advised residents that most areas on the Flats will experience water supply disruptions today as it conducts a test run for an actual shutdown.
Mayco member for Water and Sanitation, Zahid Badroodien, said today’s outage would affect the following areas: Sherwood Park, Manenberg, Heideveld, Heinz Park, Samora Machel, Philippi, Brown’s Farm, White Hart Lane, Marcus Garvey, Philippi East, Crossroads, The Island, Hanover Park, Schaapkraal, Philippi Horticultural Area, Highlands Estate, Mitchells Plain and Strandfontein.
The shutdown will take place from 10am until 6pm, reports the Weekend Argus.
“This dummy shutdown will assist the planning teams in assessing the capability of the water supply network for re-routing in preparation for an actual shutdown,” said Badroodien.
“This is a very important exercise as it provides an indication of the extent of the impact and what mitigation measures need to be implemented and what the possibilities are to maintain the water supply to these areas.”
Residents are requested to store water upfront in clean, sealed containers for domestic use during this period and to ensure that all taps are closed to prevent water loss and/or damage when the supply is restored.
Water tankers will be dispatched to provide water for domestic consumption where required.
“The City sincerely regrets any inconvenience caused, but it must explore opportunities within its water supply infrastructure network to benefit its consumers.” Badroodien adds.
The City has been urging consumers to use water sparingly as dam levels stood at 75.5% last week, lower than the 97.5% in the same period last year.