The DA is extremely concerned about the state of the Sunnyridge water tower and the safety ofthe residents in the nearby area.
Tiziana Burtone, the Ward 92 councillor and Mike Waters, MP Lethabong constituency head recently visited the tower.
“The visit revealed that the concrete at the base of the water tower is crumbling and exposing the steel to the elements resulting in the steel eroding.
“The DA has written a letter to the executive mayor, Mondli Gungubele, as a matter of urgency, bringing this potentially dangerous situation to his attention and calling for an immediate inspection by a structural engineer to evaluate the soundness of the structure, which was last done five years ago.
“Based on the evaluation of the structural engineer, the DA will be demanding that emergency funding is allocated to the rehabilitation of the water tower,” said Burtone.
“However, despite sending the letter to the mayor, we are yet to receive any feedback from him or the relevant departmental personnel.”
The group also visited the Windsor pump station, which is a vital part of the water system.
This is where the water is pumped up to the water tower which supplies the surrounding suburbs of Marlands, Sunnyridge and other areas.
“While the pumps have been upgraded to a higher capacity, and the electrical mini-sub that supplies the pump station with electricity has been caged, in order to prevent vandalism and theft, the current generator is still not big enough to pump enough water to the water tower in the event of a long term power outage during high peak hours.
“We will be raising this matter in council, calling for a larger generator to be installed at the pump station,” said Burtone.
Another issue they intend to raise in council is to ensure that the pump station has its own independent cable, directly from the substation, in the event of outages.
“We assure residents that we take their safety extremely seriously and will do everything in our power to ensure that the water tower is safe and that the residents have a constant and reliable supply of water,” said Burtone.
Zweli Dlamini, spokesman for the metro, said: “The metro intends to build another water tower in the same vicinity, to replace the existing one, and is appointing a service provider to do this.
“In the meantime, routine maintenance is ongoing and structural assessment of the tower has been conducted.
“The new water tower will also increase capacity.
With regard to when the work will be done, Dlamini said: “The hydraulic master plan does not require a new water tower; this means that the capacity of the existing water tower is sufficient.
“However, the master plan does require augmentation of the supply pipe into the reticulation.
“The metro is not in possession of the structural assessment study that has been done on the water tower.
“Hence, it would not be easy to confirm the criticalness of the structural condition and/or whether the existing water tower structure should be taken out of commission.
“It is a known fact that there is no budget provision made for a new water tower to be constructed at this location.
“However, based on the structural assessment study and pipe arrangements on site, the metro is working towards an amicable solution, or at least a temporary one, for now.
“In the event that there is no alternative other than to construct a new water tower, it will require funding on the capital expenditure budget, and procurement of consultants and contractors, prior to having physical construction on the site.
“This process could take anything from one to two years (i.e. implementation by 2017/2018 at the earliest).”
Dlamini added that the generator at the pump station is currently fully operational and is being regularly maintained.
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