Residents of Sunnyridge are still without water.
For some this is the seventh day they have had no water.
The current water crisis is reminiscent of last year’s water crisis in September.
School Avenue, Sunnyridge resident Marietta Lombard said, “It has become evident the water problems, and now annual water crisis, in the Germiston area, and specifically Sunnyridge, will negatively affect our property values.
“This is a frustrating repeat of 2014.”
Lombard told the GCN that water was restored to some of the lower lying areas of Sunnyridge on Friday, however, the water did not last long.
“The water supply was soon depleted before reaching the residents at the top of the hill, as residents downhill started using water the minute the water came back.
“I can understand this,” she said.
“What I cannot understand is how September 2014’s water crisis is being repeated.
“In more than 12 months nothing has been done to ensure the prevention of yet another water crisis in Sunnyridge.”
Lombard added that her home is riddled with sickness with both her husband and son falling ill due to the lack of water.
“As a taxpaying resident I simply cannot understand how 2014 meant nothing,” she said.
“Residents have given support to petitions, some call for marches and even legal action and the metro simply replies with announcements of water tanker locations and calls for two-minute showers.
“I will take a two-minute shower if I had running water, but I don’t.
“As a Sunnyridge resident this means nothing to me as 2014 should have meant something already.”
In March, this year, Rand Water outlined their plan to ensure that residents did not suffer another water shortage like the one they endured in 2014.
However, residents have once again been left without water.
Rand Water propose to:
- Increase the one per cent investment to municipalities and increase budget allocation for demand management.
- Operational planning is conducted in silos, with no coordination between municipalities and no centralised control room.
- The solutions are to establish a Gauteng water infrastructure planning committee, as well as a centralised control room, where telemetry will be implemented on all critical reservoirs.
- It was also reported that, in Ekurhuleni, there are no telemetry systems and sticks are being used to determine the capacity of reservoirs.
Some of the related articles:
Water will still be provided to areas without water supply
