Metro warns residents not to tamper with fire hydrants

The CoE has noted with concern an increasing number of fire hydrants being tampered with, mainly to draw water.

According to the city, as warmer temperatures approach in spring and water consumption increases, more acts of vandalism are becoming common.

The media liaison officer of the DEMS, William Ntladi, warns the public not to tamper with hydrants because it could have disastrous effects.

“Fire hydrants play a crucial role in fire suppression efforts, providing a reliable water source for firefighters to extinguish blazes quickly and efficiently. When hydrants are tampered with or used in contravention of the city’s by-laws, it can compromise their functionality, potentially leading to delays in emergency response times and increased risk to lives and property,” Ntladi stressed.

Residents and business owners, including car washes, are reminded that using fire hydrants to fill containers for personal or commercial use violates by-laws and wastes water.

The city offers water tankers when there is a water supply disruption to lessen the effects and guarantee people can access clean water for necessities.

As a result, people and businesses should not use fire hydrants during these outages because doing so poses a risk to the community and is illegal.

“Fire hydrants should only be used for their intended purpose – emergencies,” Ntladi said.

To help protect communities’ water resources, residents are encouraged to report those tampering with the water infrastructure through any of these platforms:

• X Space (Twitter): CoE_Call_Centre

• Website: https://siyakhokha.ekurhuleni.gov.za

• Email: [email protected]

• The My Ekurhuleni App.