A major water leak at the busy intersection of Roos Street and Fourways Boulevard has finally been repaired after flowing for about five weeks, despite multiple escalations from the community.

Ward 94 councillor David Foley says the repair, completed on August 9, faced avoidable delays. “The challenge was the availability of staff and the tractor-loader backhoe (TLB), impacted by the mayoral projects, which redirected management to other priorities, making logged calls take a lot longer.”

Read more: City entities point fingers as Bryan Brook water leak drags on

According to Foley, communication from Johannesburg Water (JW) during the process was far from smooth. “I kept following up, until I called an onsite meeting to get a specific date to stop the water wastage. The depot teams are excellent, but are being hamstrung by external demands, like mayoral priorities.”

Foley believes the solution is simple: Repairs should be done in the order that calls are logged, without political projects jumping the queue. He is also urging residents to take water conservation seriously.

“Firstly, adhere to the level 1 water restrictions of the City of Johannesburg, which are still in place. Most residents simply ignore them. Secondly, be an active citizen, and log calls through the Johannesburg call logging interface. Don’t think someone else will log it.”

Residents can report pipe bursts, leaks, and sewage overflows via the JW customer portal: https://customer.forcelink.net/joburg_water/login.

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