Although temporary, the recent water crisis brought a sense of community to Bedfordview, which promises to linger on.
When the taps ran dry in the suburb last week, the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) deployed water tankers around the area to provide water to residents.
The ward 20 councillor, Clr Jill Humphreys, raised concerns over senior citizens living in apartment buildings who are unable to carry buckets of water from the tankers.
She visited caretakers and building managers at the buildings last Tuesday to discuss possible solutions.
Clr Humphreys said although most of the buildings had contingency tankers on their roofs, those without made plans to ensure senior residents are taken care of during this time.
The building manager at Nahoon Flats, Mr Robert Safi, said occupants from some of the units worked together on a volunteer basis to collect water for the elderly.
“We have a few senior citizens in our building and their well-being is important to us, hence the decision to support and ensure they have clean water in their apartments for both drinking and sanitation purposes,” said Mr Safi.
He said the building has a borehole that has not been used for many years.
“I will engage the relevant parties as I believe we may need to start pumping our own water again,” said Mr Safi.
Clr Humphreys said one of her concerns was that sewerage blockages are soon going to be an added health risk.
Owners of a local car wash and petrol station said the shortage of water forced them to send staff home.
“When the the water in our tanker reaches a certain level, we close the car wash to have enough water to be able to sustain the ablution facilities and still run the garage. Unfortunately though, if we do that then the no work no pay basis applies. It breaks one’s heart to have to send staff home due to water shortages and we do hope this can be addressed soon,” said the owner.
@Duenna_M
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