After effectively blaming each other for large parts of Pretoria being without water, the City of Tshwane and bulk water supplier Rand Water will be meeting this week to find a solution.

On Saturday, the City released a statement claiming that Rand Water was responsible for the water supply issues.

"The City of Tshwane is once again facing significant challenges in delivering essential water services to our residents due to ongoing issues with Rand Water's water supply," said Tshwane's MMC for Utility Services, Themba Fosi.

"The lack of communication and transparency from Rand Water regarding these issues have only exacerbated the situation and left our residents in Pretoria East and across the city in a state of uncertainty and frustration."

On its official X (formerly known as Twitter) account, the City posted about not getting sufficient supply from reservoirs as well as low-pressure issues.

In response to this, Rand Water posted, "Please note that the City of Tshwane has exceeded their water target and are refusing to impose restrictions and communicate water conservation messages. Let us work together with the CoT and conserve water."

In a statement, the bulk water supplier dismissed the notion that the water shortages were brought about by low pressure.

"The organisation confirms that it had received and attended to a complaint from the municipality concerning water supply affecting the Akasia meter," the statement read.

On Friday, Rand Water had assigned a technical team to investigate the complaint and established the pressure was normal and the flow was high.

"It is significant to mention that the City of Tshwane's water consumption has been increasing significantly, and Rand Water had advised the municipality to control the consumption patterns."

On Sunday, the mayor of Tshwane, Cilliers Brink, reiterated that the water issues were a result of the pressure dropping.

"In fact, this is not a problem that started now. It's a problem that has persisted for some time," Brink said.

He said the city had experienced pressure drops in its reservoirs when the water level fell below a particular level. This led to taps running dry.

Brink added that he had met with Rand Water and Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu, during which they agreed to look at urgent measures to restore pressure and supply.

The mayor said Rand Water maintained that Tshwane residents use a lot more water as compared to global averages.

Fosi, who was also part of the meeting, said this was true of all Gauteng consumers.

"As a city, we need urgent campaigns to change consumer behaviour, so that residents consume less water and can put ourselves on a more sustainable basis," Fosi said.

"We will be meeting this week to devise a plan that meets sustainable requirements and to look at urgently addressing water losses on Tshwane's side.

"This, however, does not resolve the issues we have with Rand Water about what we believe is their obligation to maintain a particular pressure and other technical issues, such as being notified in advance of maintenance issues on their side, so that we communicate to our consumers on time."

News24 has reached out to Rand Water and the minister for comment.