Huge water leak left for months

Despite having been informed about it, the Merafong City Local Municipality is turning a blind eye to a huge water leak at one of its own facilities.
In November last year, the Herald reported that long grass and reeds were growing on the lawn at the Carletonville
Sports Centre, which belongs to the municipality. Although the municipality promised to look into the matter, water
was still leaking at the site in December but the municipal workers had, at least, cut the grass and reeds growing upon it. Even though the ground had been cleared, it was still not possible to locate the origin of the leakage because such a large area was wet.
On 6 December, the municipal spokesperson said the municipality had already ordered the HDPE pipe needed to repair the leak and the problem was expected to be addressed within a week.
This Monday, however, tall reeds and long grass had, once again, risen up among the thousands of litres of water
leaking at the site. ‘There must be a huge amount of water leaking for this to grow so high in such a short time,’ observed Mr Carlos Rebelo, a councillor who was with the Herald at the time. He and another councillor, Mr Gary Isherwood, had also picked up various other problems at the site. There were two other water leaks, one of which was at the water meter, where the leak had been there for so long that long grass had grown inside the meter. Meanwhile, the live electric wires that were reported months ago were still sticking out of a lamp pole at the parking lot.

‘It would be disastrous if a child should touch these while the light is on,’ Isherwood commented.
An electrical box on the outside wall of the centre was also standing open and there were indications that it had already been tampered with.
The Herald asked the municipality about the problems on Tuesday again. ‘A comprehensive response will be
issued only after investigation with the technical department. For the record, maintenance plans for major works
have been drafted but, due to financial constraints, they will be addressed when the funds become available. The payment levels are making it difficult to fully respond to the plan implementation,’ a municipal spokesperson responded.