Joburg Water has deployed water tankers to several communities after a power failure at a water treatment plant led to significant water losses in recent days.
Tankers have already been deployed to communities, including Bez Valley, Mayfair, Eikenhof, Kensington, South Hills, Crown Gardens, Booysens, and Turffontein.
Rand Water has also instituted Level 1 restrictions, urging residents to refrain from watering gardens, filling swimming pools, washing cars, paved areas and driveways, using hose pipes.
Rand Water and Johannesburg Water condemned high water consumption and urged consumers and citizens to use water sparingly, as demand exceeds supply levels.
"This increase is putting a strain on the system, and consumers and citizens can assist by reducing their water consumption," the statement said.
On Thursday, Joburg Water said reservoirs in Joburg were being affected by the power failure at Zuikerbosch Water Treatment Plant.
“As a result, most of the systems have lost storage capacity and are currently critically low to empty. Johannesburg Water is monitoring the situation,” they said.
Water reservoirs in Linbro Park, Marlboro, Morningside, Midrand, Bryanston, Grand Central, and South Hills were among those that were critically low and had poor pressure to no water.
Residents were told to expect inconsistent to no supply in those areas.
At the South Hills tower, Joburg Water said pumping had resumed on Thursday morning but “due to poor incoming supply pressures, no water to poor pressures will be experienced”. They reported that the system was still recovering.
In Brixton, Joburg Water said there was a small improvement overnight, but remains low. “Poor pressure may still be experienced in high-lying areas”.
In Hursthill, the reservoir was still critically low, and the supply zone was expected to have low pressure and no water.
There were slight improvements at the Naturena, Alexander Park, and Linden reservoirs.
Robertsham resident Nawaaz Ally said their Joburg South community had been without water for over seven days.
He said councillors were pushing them aside when they wanted answers.
“The only answers we get from the councillors are the generic responses that Joburg Water is giving. This has become an ongoing problem in the area since the new year.
“We have had six water stoppages that have lasted longer than a week since last September, and the last water stoppage we had lasted 12 months,” said Ally during an interview with Salaam Media.
He said there were no water tankers in the area, and they had been pleading with the city to assist.
Professor Craig Sheridan of Wits University called on the officials to communicate more effectively with the public. He also said he believed places with key water infrastructure, such as pump stations and treatment facilities, should be exempt from load shedding.
He also said there was a bigger demand for water as the weather got warmer, saying the city should communicate effectively and early if there were water restrictions and water control notices that they had to be aware of.
“We need to try to stop people using lots of water, especially at this time of the year because demand is high, it's hot and sticky, and there's been no rain,” he said.
IOL