City Power conducts repairs at Eikenhof substation which caused water outages in Joburg
City Power is conducting emergency repairs on a feeder board at the Eikenhof substation after one of the isolators experienced a flash-over on Monday night.
The incident affected a dedicated transformer which is responsible for supplying power to the Rand Water pump station.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said at the moment, Rand Water is not pumping water, as there is no alternative power supply available.
Mangena said this disrupted water supply in Johannesburg, areas west of the city, including Mogale City.
Mangena added that the utility dismantled the feeder board where the flash-over occurred and will pressure-test it before water restoration can start.
“Tests are currently under way, and one side of the board has already tested clear. We are busy testing the breakers on one side of the cleared feeder board. Should this test pass, we should be ready to restore at least 50% of the load.
“We will then remain with the other feeder board where more work is expected, including the replacement of insulators and testing. All the required materials will be delivered on site in due course,” he said.
He further added that after all installations, final tests will be done to determine whether they can bring all Rand Water operations back on.
Mangena said the problem disrupted water supply in areas such as Krugersdorp, Carletonville and went as far as affecting some parts of Brits and Rustenburg.
However, he said he was confident that all the work will be completed by Tuesday night.
“The cause of the flash-over, which happened during the normalisation work after the weekend planned maintenance, is still being investigated,’’ he added.
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