Bedfordview taps run dry again, Rand Water is mum
Bedfordview residents were without water for days after Rand Water tackled an urgent leak on March 7, but restoring supply to the Signal Hill reservoir proved to be an 'unexpected' challenge.
March 14 marked eight days for Bedfordview residents without water and no clarity or accountability from Rand Water.
According to the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE), Rand Water attended to an urgent water leak on March 7.
On completion of the repairs, the utility struggled to restore water supply to the city’s Signal Hill reservoir.
“There is a shortage of water supply received from Rand Water,” said the city’s spokesperson, Zweli Dlamini.
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On measures implemented to address ongoing water outages in the area, Dlamini reiterated the city initiated a project to replace asbestos cement pipelines in Ward 20, which includes Bedfordview, Bedford Gardens, Senderwood and St Andrews.
“The city approved the inception report and the preliminary design (PDR) stage is underway. The CoE received a copy of the first draft PDR for review and comments on March 7.
“The PSP commented on which the city will address it and re-submit the report for a second review.
“We anticipate the report will be approved by March 31, after which the detailed design stage will commence,” said Dlamini.
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In the meantime, water supply has remained critically disrupted, with no clear indication of when water will flow on their taps again.
The CoE says they have communicated and requested Rand Water to give the public regular updates, which they have agreed to do.
Ward 20 Clr Jill Humphreys shared on her community groups that initially water was not being pumped to capacity, leaving Bedfordview and the surrounding areas dry.
As she continued to update residents, she said, “Not a drop is coming in from Rand Water. Also, no word of explanation.”
Reports that a burst pipeline was causing delays followed this, but updates from RW remained scarce and inconsistent.
Humphreys expressed frustration over the lack of communication, saying, “The fact that RW does not let us know where they are with their process makes it impossible to assist our communities with feedback.”
Bedfordview Primary School offered assistance with water to the public, and the Belgravia Bowling Club and RAG had set up water points.
Humphreys also raised the state of infrastructure, saying the reservoir was over 100 years old.
“For it to be examined, it probably needs advanced technology. Unless this is done, they will not find the fault and restore the line; I don’t see a quick fix here.”
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On March 14, she shared she requested leak detectors to be appointed to investigate illegal mining activities as they were known to interfere with water networks.
In the meantime, a team was set up to assist the elderly, sick and disabled with water deliveries. By the time of going to print, Rand Water had not replied to the media enquiry forwarded to them.
