Ignored water leak leaves Sunair Park residents with soaring bill

Sunair Park residents Jenny and Alan Hutchinson reached the end of their tether on March 4. The date was one day before the CoE finally started work on a water leak bedevilling them since August 2023.

“In August 2023, we reported a leak in the road outside our home. It is now March, and to date, the issue has not been resolved,” said the Andries Street residents.

When the Brakpan Herald visited them to investigate the leak, they said the technicians were there earlier that day and promised to start work at 08:00 on Wednesday. Still, it took almost 19 months of constant reporting, calling and emailing before the city did anything.

They were also concerned about a dip forming in the road, fearing it could become a sinkhole if the leak wasn’t fixed timeously, on top of worries about the water loss.

“In a country with water issues, it is quite sad that we have reported the leak for so long without anyone taking action,” they said.

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Now, they face a new concern – the water bill. During the visit to the site, Jenny showed the Herald their water bill, which has about R5 000 in additional fees.

Jenny and Alan are the home’s only two residents and suspect the high bill is an attempt to recoup the losses caused by the leak.

“We will not pay it. We reported the leak monthly for over a year and a half, and now, the city wants to charge us? Not a chance,” Jenny said.

Neighbour Adri Durrheim advised the pair to go to the Brakpan Customer Care Centre to contest the bill, and Jenny agreed it would be the best next step.

We requested comments from the city about the leak before the technician investigated. We then asked for follow-up information on the inflated water bill and the steps to contest it. The city had not responded to either enquiry at the time of publication.

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