Substation fire in Springs interrupts water supply to suburbs

What happened

On 10 September 2022 a fire broke out at the Springs electricity substation in Springs, Ekurhuleni, South Africa. The power supply interruption caused by the fire affected the water supply from the Rietfontein reservoir and the Dal Fouche water tower. Several suburbs and areas of Springs lost water supply, including Fulcrum, Geduld, New Era, Pollack Park, Selection Park, Springs Extension, Springs CBD, Wright Park, Paul Krugersoord, Presidents Dam and Dal Fouche.

The City of Ekurhuleni dispatched water tankers to the affected areas while efforts were made to restore power to the reservoir and water tower. The City published a press release on 11 September 2022 and apologised for the inconvenience.

Contributing factors

The source does not state the cause of the fire. The loss of power to the water pumping equipment at the reservoir and water tower meant that water supply was interrupted for the affected areas.

Lessons learned

1. Identify which water pumping and storage assets depend on a single electricity substation, so that a substation fire does not cut off water supply to a wide area without a back-up.
2. Keep water tankers or alternative supply arranged for areas where a power failure would stop reservoir pumping.
3. Communicate the affected areas and expected restoration promptly to the public, as the City did through its press release.

More lessons on fire suppression and firefighting, outages, backup supply and restoration, emergency response and public communication, from every incident on the register.

Source

ekurhuleni.gov.za