No disruption expected during Lesotho Highland Water Tunnel shutdown, says government

• Published date: 26 April 2024
• Publication title: SowetanLIVE (Johannesburg, South Africa)

The department of water and sanitation held a briefing on Friday to outline plans to curb water disruptions when the tunnels shut for maintenance between October 2024 and March 2025

The tunnels, which supply water from Lesotho to South Africa, including Gauteng, will be closed for inspection and maintenance work.

Directorgeneral Sean Phillips said the Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS) would not lack water during the shutdown as a backup supply was available from the Sterkfontein Dam.

"The analysis indicated the impact of the outage on the overall IVRS will be insignificant, considering dams in the IVRS such as the Sterkfontein Dam and others are relatively full. This means the closure of the tunnel for maintenance will not result in any disruption of water supply to Rand Water, and to municipalities in Gauteng and other provinces which are customers of Rand Water," Phillips said.

The shutdown will also not effect water supply to users along the Liebenbergsvlei River in Free State, which usually receives outflows from the tunnel. Additional water will be supplied from the Saulspoort Dam before the start of the shutdown to ensure towns along the river, including Bethlehem, Reitz and Tweeling, will have sufficient supplies during the shutdown.

"Licence irrigators along the Liebenbergsvlei River and its tributaries will be provided with notices to restrict their abstraction during the shutdown to...