SA’s water crisis | Gauteng hospitals run dry

JOHANNESBURG - At least two Gauteng hospitals are feeling the effects of water shortages in the province.

The provincial health department says the Helen Joseph and Rahima Moosa hospitals are struggling.

Joburg Water has been bringing in water tanks, and both hospitals have boreholes.

But it's still not enough.

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"The two facilities that you've mentioned have of course been impacted by challenges that Joburg Water communicated earlier in the day. I think as early as last week they'd communicated that they have had challenges on their network and unfortunately those challenges happen to be affecting the two facilities in particular," said Motalatale Modiba from the Gauteng Health Department. 

"Joburg Water has come on board in terms of providing water tankers into the facilities. What they've done today is they've also increased the frequency within which they supply the facility with those.

"But we're finding that even with those measures unfortunately those are intervention measures, it's not the same as when the facility has got full water supply so we are having to contend with that," he said.

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"I think it has obviously put a bit of a strain on healthcare workers as they grapple with how best to manage the situation, especially given that you're dealing with people's lives and obviously when people come to hospitals we want to make their stay there as comfortable as possible."

Several Rand Water pump stations, supplying a large number of Gauteng metros, have implemented Stage 2 water restrictions as reservoirs and towers run dry.

Rolling blackouts have also been escalated to Stage 4 as more generation units have broken down.