Charlotte Maxeke hospital prioritises emergencies amid poor water supply

Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital says it will prioritise emergency cases and divert elective surgeries to nearby health facilities while it battles water challenges due to poor supplies from Johannesburg Water.

This was confirmed by the Gauteng health department and Johannesburg Water. 

“The hospital began experiencing low water pressure in the early hours on Monday morning. After an investigation by technicians, it was discovered Johannesburg Water had cut the supply to the facility’s bulk water tanks on September 13.

“As a result, hospital management has implemented measures to prioritise emergency cases and divert all elective surgeries to nearby facilities until the water challenges are resolved by Johannesburg Water. In an effort to ensure patient care is not compromised, the department has secured the supply from Johannesburg Water and bottles of water which were delivered overnight,” said the health department’s Khutso Rabothata.

The department said engagements with the utility were “ongoing to expedite a solution” to the issue and it “remains committed to providing quality healthcare to all citizens”. 

On Monday night Joburg Water confirmed the hospital had been affected by supply challenges affecting Parktown 2 reservoir.

“Joburg Water’s technical teams are at the hospital trying to find solutions to boost their supply. The reservoir is critically low to empty. This is due to the combination of poor supply and high demand. Poor pressure to no water is expected in the supply zone.

“Joburg Water’s teams continue investigations into finding the cause for the poor supply and addressing airlocks. The investigations require considerable time,” the entity said.

Joburg Water said while the reservoir had “been reconfigured to boost incoming supply”, there was no estimated time of restoration at this point.

“Improvements are, however, expected overnight.”

The utility also provided an update on the Berea and Dunkeld reservoirs, saying the first had declined but was supplying fairly while the latter was running on “critically low to empty”. The Parktown 2 reservoir’s performance had affected both suburbs.

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