The sinkholes at two water reservoirs in Carletonville and Khutsong are still not fixed, despite the fact that they can play a huge role in sustainable living and development.

By this week, no work has been done to fix the sinkhole at the Carletonville reservoir across from the 007 shopping complex.

This large sinkhole, first reported in 2023, is situated next to the pipeline from the reservoir to the nearby pump station. This sinkhole has already eroded most of the ground beneath one of the pipeline’s braces, placing the entire structure at risk of collapse.

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When the Herald visited the site last week, cracks had even spread under the pipeline. This reservoir has not been in use since another sinkhole snapped the main pipeline to town in June 2015. Although the municipality has had a contractor on site to repair the reservoir, it has done nothing to fix the current sinkhole next to the pipeline that has been rerouted since the 2015 disaster.

Although this contractor was still working at the site earlier this year, they have now left.

Meanwhile, Rand Water has recently fixed another sinkhole in the same area, which was situated next to their pump station.

In a document by the municipality, called “Merafong Municipal Spatial Framework,” officials noted the fact that this reservoir is not yet fixed as a “critical infrastructure bottleneck”, which is halting other major projects in the area, such as the envisioned Merafong Bioenergy Park, which is putting thousands of job opportunities at risk. It is also hampering the start of the Merafong Solar Farm Cluster, where up to 1 000 job opportunities are put in the balance by the fact that there is not enough water.

Meanwhile, no work has been done to repair the sinkhole at the Khutsong reservoir either. The municipality did, however, put up a bright yellow barricade around it.

The municipality said that they will fix the sinkholes once they have received money for these actions from from Provincial and Disaster Management Centres.