Waterless in Joburg? News24 wants to hear from residents affected by the outage

• Are you a Johannesburg resident left high and dry due to a prolonged water outage?
• News24 wants to hear your perspective on declining water infrastructure. 
• Email us your submission and it could be featured in this week's edition of Friday Briefing. 
• The deadline for submissions is 14:00 on Wednesday, 13 March.

For thousands of residents, flushing a toilet or having a decent bath has been a pipe dream since the Eikenhof pump station was hit by lightning, resulting in a prolonged water outage in parts of the city. 

Despite repairs to the pump, high-lying areas were without water. 

This was further compounded by the high temperatures, dry reservoirs, a major burst pipe and a power outage at the Zwartkoppies pump station, leaving several suburbs waterless. 

The ensuing chaos following the lightning strike highlighted the fragility of the Johannesburg water system, with no support in place to prevent it from collapsing.

Experts warn that the situation is unlikely to improve going forward, with more water outages expected in the future. 

South Hill residents fill up their water bottles from water trucks. (Thahasello Mphatsoe/News24)

News24

If you live in Johannesburg, News24 would love to hear how you coped without water over the last few days.

Write to us, and your submission could appear on our website for this week's edition of Friday Briefing.

Your submission must be about 100-250 words and must include your name and surname.

Email your submission to opinions@news24.com, and News24's opinions editor, Vanessa Banton, will select the 10 best submissions for publishing in this week's Friday Briefing. 

The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, 13 March at 14:00