Residents in a number of Germiston suburbs have entered their third day without water.
According to residents who contacted the GCN, the areas affected are Elsburg, Estera and Klippoortje AH.
The community is furious about the situation, especially as they receive no feedback from the metro regarding the cause of the outage and how long it will take to resolve the matter.
In a letter sent to the municipality, the residents asked, “Do you realise that water is a necessity and not a luxury?”
Although many residents have contacted the metro and have reference numbers, there does not appear to be any solution in sight for the frustrated community members.
Residents also said the metro has not provided any water tankers to the affected areas to supply water to residents.
“We have a school with special needs children in the area.
“How do you think the caregivers are going to take care of these children who are unable to take care of themselves?
“We have pre-schools, primary schools and high schools,” said the residents.
“Should the schools send the children home due to poor service delivery from Ekurhuleni, during such a crucial time of the year when the children are writing exams?”
But the latest water outage is not the only cause of concern for residents.
They said they have been plagued with numerous water and electricity outages over the past few months.
Another issue of contention is the non-collection of refuse.
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“It has been three weeks now that our wheelie bins and skip bins have not been emptied,” the residents said.
“What will be the excuse this time – no trucks?”
Street lights in the areas are also not maintained.
“Lights are on during the day and off at night.
“Some are just not working at all,” the residents said.
The community is furious and wants answers from the metro regarding the situation.
“Every week we have either no water, no electricity or no refuse removal in the area,” the residents said.
Clr Alta de Beer, the Ward 39 councillor, told the GCN, on Wednesday, that two water tankers will be in the Elsburg area.
One at the Elsburg Swimming Pool, situated on the corner of Smit and Jacob streets, and one in Delport Street.
“I also discussed the issue with water officials and they currently have three teams on the ground to resolve the problem.
“As a short-term solution, they will take out one of the supply valves to see if it will increase the water supply to Elsburg,” de Beer said.
De Beer added the future plan is to upgrade the main supply line with a new 300mm pipe and build the new Russell Road Reservoir.
“The tender process for the new pipeline is in progress,” she said.
The GCN has requested comment on all the issues raised by the residents and is awaiting feedback.
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