A pipe burst in Columbus Crescent in Douglasdale on August 25, just days after Johannesburg Water installed air valves at number 15, is raising fresh questions over whether the city’s intervention is addressing the suburb’s worsening water crisis.

Fourways Review and Ward 106 councillor Chris Santana visited the site following the burst, with Santana accusing Joburg Water of failing to identify the underlying cause of the repeated failures.

Read more: Johannesburg Water installs two air valves in Douglasdale amid ongoing pipe bursts

The failure follows shortly after Joburg Water installed two air valves in Douglasdale — at 15 Columbus Crescent and 55 Crawford Drive.

The installations followed a heated community meeting where residents demanded a permanent solution to months of recurring bursts and water outages.

During the meeting, Joburg Water officials said air valves formed part of the measures being introduced to help manage the network and mitigate the recurring failures. Officials also said they had identified locations for additional air valves, with installations planned through to the end of September.

However, Santana said the latest burst suggested the interventions were not resolving the problem.

“We’ve got valves closed, we’ve got air valves in some of the fire hydrants and yet we still have bursts occurring every single day.”

Santana said residents were still waiting for an explanation about what was causing the pressure fluctuations and repeated failures.

Also read: Dainfern water nightmare continues with yet another pipe failure

“We still haven’t dealt with what’s causing the pressure issues. They still haven’t found the issues.”

Santana also criticised the damage caused to surrounding infrastructure during emergency repairs, saying residents were frustrated by the state of roads, pavements and other infrastructure across the ward.

“In fact, I’m going to start calling them the Department of Destruction because everywhere throughout this ward it just looks like there’s been a disaster,” he said.

The councillor said Joburg Water had previously told residents that the pipes had not yet reached the end of their useful lifespan.

He questioned how that explanation could reassure residents who continue to experience bursts and outages.

“I feel despaired like the residents do that we just have no real answers to what’s plaguing the area,” Santana said.

At the community meeting, Joburg Water officials also told residents that instead of immediate wholesale pipe replacement, the utility would focus on pressure-management measures and repairs.

Also read: Johannesburg Water revises Craigavon sewer project deadline to September 30

Santana, however, said the utility was still carrying out point repairs rather than replacing longer sections of pipe as residents had been led to expect.

“They’re still only doing point repairs and that’s not solving our problems within this area,” he said.

Monitoring pressure fluctuations

At the latest burst site, Santana pointed to a device installed on the network to monitor pressure fluctuations.

“They’ve put a logger on here to actually record the pressure fluctuations that are happening in this area on a daily basis, obviously over the evenings when it starts to pick up pressure,” he said.

He questioned whether the setup would provide an accurate picture of the pressure conditions if the system was not properly sealed during monitoring.

The pressure issue has been a point of contention between residents and Joburg Water.

Following the burst, Fourways Review contacted Joburg Water with detailed questions asking whether the failure was connected to the air-valve intervention, what the expected outcome of the valves was and whether the utility had an overall plan for Douglasdale.

At the time of publication, no response had been received from Joburg Water.

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