A widespread power outage following an explosion on the 11 kV power lines supplied from City Power’s Orlando switching station is impacting the pumping operations of Rand Water’s Eikenhof booster station, which experienced a power failure in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Rand Water on Thursday said that the power outage, which is impacting several areas in the South of Johannesburg alongside the Eikenhof booster station, interrupted pumping operations, as the station receives its electricity supply from a City Power substation.

The interruption in pumping operations may lead to the depletion of water levels at several Rand Water reservoirs, including Meredale; Waterval; Roodepoort; Krugersdorp; Weltevreden; Witpoortjie; Libanon; Driefontein; Rustenburg and Barnardsvlei.

Areas supplied by these reservoirs are likely to experience low water pressure or intermittent water supply until pumping operations resume.

As a result, customers in the City of Johannesburg, as well as the local municipalities of Mogale city, Merafong, Rand West city, Rustenburg, Madibeng and the Royal Bafokeng Administration, may experience water supply disruptions. Various industries, mines and direct customers may also be affected.

City Power technical teams are on site attending to the fault and investigating the cause of the outage. Rand Water operators remain at the Eikenhof booster station to support the restoration process and facilitate the safe resumption of pumping operations as soon as the power supply is restored.

According to City Power, electricity supply is expected to be fully restored during the course of the day.