Water Outage & Water Restoration Tips

To safe guard your property and to keep your pipes and geysers free of debris during water restorations after an outage, follow these tips.

• DON’T PAY FOR AIR
  As water is restored air will rush through the pipeline and also through your water meter causing it to spin up and increase the meter reading.  To avoid this keep the main stop valve before your meter closed until water has been completely restored.
  You can install a second stop valve after your meter with a tap between the stop valve and the meter.  This way you can open the tap to check on water restoration without having air blowing through your meter for an extended period of time and also ensure that the water is clean before opening the stop valve to your property.

• HOPE FOR THE BEST BUT PLAN FOR THE WORST
  • Repair & restoration time frames provided by Sol Plaatje Municipality are frequently over optimistic.  Be prepared that any outage may take much longer than stated and keep adequate spare amounts of water in reserve.
• WATER RESTORATION TIME
  • When an update that water has been restored is received from Sol Plaatje Municipality, it is usually when water has been switched back on.  Frequently the water distribution network is still empty and it can take some time to build adequate pressure in the network. Therefore there can be a delay between the time of the announcement to the time water supply is restored to households and businesses, especially in high lying areas and areas at greater distances from the reservoir.
• OPEN TAPS
  • Residents are cautioned to keep taps closed, as a forgotten unattended open tap can lead to flooding or at least a waste of water when the water supply is restored. During leak tests or initial water restoration it can also allow dirt into your water pipes and fittings.
  • The best way to keep as much dirt as possible out of your water system is to close the main stop valve at your water meter until water has been completely restored.  You should still follow the water restore procedure below when you do open the stop valve.
• NOISES IN YOUR PIPES OR GEYSER
  • While work continues, pressure and leak tests can be started and stopped at any time.  This can cause some water to move through the system and this combined with air (or the air being displaced) can cause noises in your pipes, geysers and toilets.
  • It is recommended that you leave your geyser stop valve closed and your geyser switched off and only open it after following the hot water restoration tips below.
  • A correctly installed geyser has numerous safeguards and will only explode if it is full of water & switched on and the thermostat & pressure relief valves malfunction leading to a catastrophic rise in pressure, beyond the tolerance of the geyser.
• RESTORING COLD WATER TO YOUR HOUSE
  • The first rush of water will most probably contain a fair amount of dirt.  It is recommended to keep the stop valve of your geyser closed and to first open a single cold water tap (preferably an outside tap closest to the main stop valve) to flush out as much dirt as possible. Once the tap is running clear, open the cold water tap the furthest away from the stop valve until that runs clear, and only then open your geyser stop valve.
• RESTORING HOT WATER TO YOUR HOUSE
  Only when the water supply flowing from the cold taps is clean and stable should you open your geyser stop valve.  Open a hot water tap to help air escape from the geyser.  Once clean and air free water is flowing from your hot water tap, you can switch your geysers trip switch back on.

• WATER FROM RELIEF VALVES
  Do not be alarmed if you see water flowing out of relief valves in the streets. These are used to help keep pipes empty during work and also to bleed air from the system to minimize possible damage caused by the hammering of air rushing through the system when water is introduced into empty pipes.