Johannesburg Water’s pressure reducing valve (PRV) programme is reducing the pressure on the water supply network across the City of Johannesburg.

A critical component of the initiative is the maintenance and management of PRVs, and the water utility is focusing on the reinstatement and refurbishment of conventional pressure reducing valves that are currently nonoperational owing to vandalism and technical faults.

PRVs, installed inline within pipelines, are essential components of the water supply system, regulating downstream pressure to ensure a consistent water supply over long distances through pipes of varying diameters.

“Proper pressure management not only ensures efficient distribution, but also helps reduce physical losses, especially in older infrastructure. Therefore, maintaining PRVs is a critical focus area,” said Johannesburg Water water conservation and water demand management programme (WCWDM) and technical metering senior manager Logan Munsamy.

Johannesburg Water also plans to install smart pressure controllers on key network zonal PRVs, which will help manage pressure more effectively, reducing the incidence of bursts and leaks.

Collectively, these interventions aim to lower high pressures in the system, ultimately decreasing minimum night flows and water losses, Munsamy commented.

Each region in Johannesburg Water's networks department conducts PRV maintenance with a dedicated special services team, led by an operations manager and skilled artisan fitters, responsible for both reactive and preventative maintenance of PRVs.

The PRV programme is part of Johannesburg Water’s WCWDM programme, which also mitigates other issues, such as leaking reservoirs, on-property customer leaks and the ageing infrastructure that contributes to water loss.

Johannesburg Water currently operates a total of 730 PRVs within the network.

However, some of these valves are bypassed owing to vandalism or require some maintenance and repairs.

To address this, the utility established a framework contract to procure spare parts, enabling its teams to repair and reinstate PRVs more efficiently.

In addition, a project to install smart controllers in high-consumption PRV zones has been implemented.

In the 2023/24 financial year, 15 units were installed, with plans underway to install an additional 12 units in the current financial year.