Yet another sinkhole caved in at one of our area’s reservoirs.

An opposition party councillor, Welile Fihla, pointed out a new sinkhole at the Khutsong reservoir last week. According to sources, this sinkhole caved in on January 21.

Although the new sinkhole is only about a metre in diameter, a peep over the edge shows it is at least three meters deep.

The cavity also stretches underneath the solid ground next to the hole at the top, which means it is almost certainly going to cave in further.

The most worrying fact about the new sinkhole is that it has caved in only about four metres from the reservoir itself. The two other sinkholes that caved in at this reservoir previously are several metres away and outside the fence.

Although these sinkholes caved in about a year ago, the Merafong City Local Municipality, which owns the reservoir, has still not fixed them. It previously said that it is waiting for new funds.

The municipality has also indicated that this reservoir is not yet in use, despite being completed about five years ago. There were many problems at this reservoir since construction work started at the site. The project was, at first, delayed by the fact that no one had noticed that the main Eskom cable was right underneath where the new reservoir was to be built. Because of this, the plans had to be altered. Workers at the site had also shown the Herald sinkholes that caved in near the reservoir, even as they were busy building it.

This new reservoir is situated less than two kilometres away from the old Khutsong reservoir, which had to be taken out of use due to sinkholes that caved in under it.

“How can you build a new reservoir in an area where you know there are many sinkholes? A huge amount of money had been wasted on the building of this reservoir,” says Fihla.

There is also still no water or electricity for the security staff who have to watch the reservoir. This means that they have to relieve themselves in the veld, which is dangerous as there are zama-zamas in the area.

It is not clear how the municipality is going to save the reservoir if this new sinkhole grows. Meanwhile, the municipality has also done nothing about the sinkhole at the Carletonville reservoir across from the 007 shopping centre.

“The sinkhole formation has been identified and referred to the relevant department, which is currently working on maintenance options to address the matter. The reservoir is currently non-functional due to electrical failure,” the municipality said about the new sinkhole in Khutsong.