Water leaks left for week

While residents of Kokosi had to make do without water during the past week, large volumes of crystal clear water were being wasted only a few kilometres away. According to Ms Annett Venter, a councillor from Fochville, she first re- ported the broken water pipe on the side of Lucerne Street in Fochville five weeks ago. “I called to report the matter to the officials at the municipal offices in Fochville weeks ago already, but nothing is being done about it,” Venter lamented during the past week. When the Herald accompanied her to the leaking pipe in question, so much water was bubbling out from a large crack in the tar towards the edge of the road surface that it was streaming down the road for several blocks. It finally disappeared into the opening of a storm water drain on the side of the road. Venter pointed out other water leaks that she had also reported to the municipality about two weeks earlier. On the corner of Lucerne and Pochefstroom streets, a patch of bright green grass marked where the water had been leaking from the sidewalk. This, too, streamed down the side of the road for more than a block. On the corner of Potchefstroom and Loopspruit streets, what also appeared to be clean water flowed from the sidewalk and streamed down the Loopspruit street to Fochville from the direction of Greenspark. “I cannot understand why no one has paid any attention to this leak as many people, including municipal employees, drive on this road every day,” Venter complained. She also showed the Herald another big leak on the side of Malva Street next to the municipal swimming pool in Fochville. Here, water was flowing from the sidewalk and down the road. “How is it that the municipality doesn’t even notice, let alone repair, theleaks in front of its own buildings?” Venter asked. “Huge volumes of water, for which the municipality and we taxpayers are paying, get lost like this. “We live in a water-scarce country where no one can afford to just sit back and watch such a precious resource go to waste,” she complained, adding that, if the municipality attended to smaller problems like water leaks faster, some bigger issues such as water shortages could be prevented in future. Although the Herald double-checked that all the leaks had been reported to the Merafong City Local Municipality by 5 May, nothing had yet been done about the issues on Monday, 9 May. The Herald sent questions to the Merafong City Local Municipality on Tuesday. “The water leak in Lucerne Street

was the result of a burst pipe which was addressed before this press release was released. “The leaks on the corners of Potchefstroom and Loopspruit and Lucerne and Potchefstroom streets are valve leaks that can only be addressed once the supplier has delivered the parts needed for the repairs.

The Malva Street leak was investigated and was found to have originated from the baby pool at the municipal swimming pool. The matter has been brought to the attention of the facility management section to resolve the issue,” a municipal spokesperson responded just before the time of the newspaper going to print on Tuesday.