21-Day Water Outage in Johannesburg: Affected Areas and Essential Preparation Tips

Rand Water’s Critical Maintenance from 30 June to 21 July 2025: What Joburg Residents Need to Know and How to Prepare

Johannesburg is bracing for a 21-day water outage—one of the longest and most far-reaching in the city’s history. Starting on 30 June and running until 21 July 2025, this planned maintenance by Rand Water will temporarily disrupt supply across several key regions in Gauteng. While the upgrades are intended to improve long-term efficiency and resilience of the water infrastructure, they come at a cost, major inconvenience and potential hardship for thousands of residents and businesses.

Here’s everything you need to know about the affected areas, timing, and how to prepare effectively.

Why the Outage Is Happening

Rand Water is undertaking a large-scale maintenance programme to enhance operational performance across its main systems—Vereeniging, Zuikerbosch, and Zwartkopjes. Officials say winter was deliberately chosen for this disruption due to lower water demand, in preparation for peak summer usage starting in August.

“This is the ideal time of year to perform planned maintenance,” said Rand Water, “to ensure the system is strong and resilient for high-demand periods.”

Affected Areas: Is Your Zone on the List?

The following areas will face either complete water outages or significantly reduced pressure during the 21-day window:

• Commando System (Hursthill, Brixton, Crosby)
• Lenasia Systems
• Randburg
• Roodepoort Systems
• Soweto Systems
• Crown Gardens Reservoir
• Eagles Nest Reservoir
• Aeroton Reservoir

Additional Areas Affected by Parallel Maintenance:

• 3 June 2025 (10-hour outage):
  Sandton, Alexander Park, South Hills, Randjieslaagte, Linksfield, Midrand
• 30 June – 2 July 2025:
  Pipe repair at Zuikerbosch Plant & valve replacements at Zwartkopjes Station will impact:
  Crown Gardens, Eagles Nest, Parktown, Berea, Forest Hill, Alan Manor, Naturena, Hector Norris Pump Station

Phases of the Outage

The outage will occur in structured phases:

1. First 6 hours – Complete halt in water pumping
2. Next 42 hours – Only 50% pumping capacity
3. Remaining 19 days – Water restored to 80% capacity

Residents should expect inconsistent supply or low water pressure throughout.

Recovery May Take Days

Even after 21 July, normal water pressure won’t return overnight.
Johannesburg Water warns that larger systems—like Sandton and Midrand—may take several more days to fully recover due to the time needed for reservoirs to rebuild capacity.

How to Prepare: Essential Water Storage & Usage Tips

With water interruptions stretching over three weeks, proper preparation is critical:

• 🧴 Store 2–5 litres of drinking water per person per day
• 🚽 Fill buckets or containers for flushing toilets and washing hands
• ❄️ Freeze bottles of water—as they melt, you’ll have cold, clean water
• 🚿 Limit non-essential water usage
• 🛑 Avoid watering gardens, washing cars, or taking long showers

Water Tankers & Support Measures

Johannesburg Water will deploy mobile tankers and establish temporary water points in high-impact zones. Locations and schedules will be announced closer to the time on their official website and social media.

Stay connected to:

• @JHBWater on Twitter/X
• Joburg Water Facebook Page
• Local WhatsApp community groups

Prepare Now to Avoid Panic Later

With more than 20 days of reduced or no water, this is not an event to take lightly. Start preparing early.
While this outage is disruptive, the upgrades are essential to building a stronger, more resilient water supply system for Johannesburg’s future.

Quick Summary for Residents:

Also read: Johannesburg’s Triple Trouble: Heatwave, Load-Shedding & Water Outages Impact Communities