South Africa: Water Supply Falls Victim to Fragile Power System

A bush fire in South Africa’s central Gauteng province damaged power transmission lines that supply a key water treatment plant, curtailing supply to some cities and underscoring the vulnerability of essential services reliant on the fragile national electricity grid. Almost all South Africa’s electricity is supplied by Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. The country has endured intermittent power outages since 2005 and is headed for a record year of blackouts because of the cash-strapped state utility’s inability to meet demand from its old and poorly maintained plants.

Source: Bloomberg