A giant pipe is the problem lying in the path of a stable water future for Joburg

A plan to ensure that Rand Water's Eikenhof pump station doesn't again run out of power and leave vast swathes of Johannesburg high and dry, hinges on one thing: whether or not Rand Water itself will move a giant pipe to make way for another cable.

The pumping station that supplies water to Randburg, Roodepoort, Soweto, and the inner city was out of commission for hours because the electrical substation providing it with power suffered a "flash over", or explosion.

On Wednesday, City Power announced plans to add a second, alternate power line to the pump station which it can use in an emergency. But that all depends on whether Rand Water itself will move the pipe now lying where the city's power utility wants to lay the cable.