Burst water pipe damages residence in Ridgeway
What was just a minor water leakage lead to a damaged property.
Ridgeway experienced a water outage that led to a substantial issue on June 8.
“Before the water outage, I noticed water gushing out of the water meter outside my house. At first, I thought it was a leak, but my husband and I could not ascertain where it came from.
“However, the water stopped gushing out because of the outage. On June 11 when Joburg Water restored water to the area around 14:00, the water started gushing out again from outside. At first, we thought the leak came from our yard, so we called out two qualified plumbers who confirmed that the issue was not domestic.
“We logged a call with Joburg Water. Residents were upset, assuming we had left a tap running and the leak was due to our negligence. They also thought it might have been a burst pipe on our property. Joburg Water came out at 22:00 on June 11 to attend to the issue. By this time the gushing water had worsened within hours but there was no great damage at the time.
“To assess the issue, they closed the water pump and the gushing water subsided but it had already been pouring in at one part of our house which we managed to clear out. The residents began to complain about there not being water due to the closed water pump.
“This where the nightmare started,” said Rethabile Moagi, owner of the flooded house.
Moagi said damage has been caused to the inside and outside of the house. The homeowners only managed to save one bedroom in the house just for them to sleep. Their son has also been displaced as his room was submerged in water.
“He is busy with exams and we suggested he stays with a friend while the issue is being resolved as we do not want to put any strain on his mental health,” said the disheartened homeowner.
Ward councillor Stuart Marais said he is aware of what is happening and the problem was the main reservoir pipe leakage.
Johannesburg Water is also aware of the Ridgeway home that flooded and upon assessment by the Johannesburg Water team, it was found that the problem was a burst pipe.
The burst water pipe was a trunk main that is 300mm in diameter and was leaking from three different sections.
The newspaper reached out to the homeowner on June 15 and she said Ridgeway still did not have water but the damages to the house were being dealt with, gradually.
“We are working on trying to restore our home. I understand repairs to the pipe are underway. I am grateful to everyone who assisted and although we are frustrated that there is no water, we are glad that our house is no longer flooded,” said Moagi.
