Frustration is mounting across Heidelberg as thousands of residents continue to endure ongoing water outages.

Many communities have been left without a reliable water supply for weeks while Rand Water and Lesedi Local Municipality remain embroiled in a dispute over outstanding debt.

The water crisis has affected several areas across Heidelberg, including Ratanda, Bergsig, Rensburg, Jordaan Park, Overkruin and surrounding neighbourhoods. It has disrupted daily life for residents who have been forced to rely on communal taps and municipal water tankers for drinking water, cooking, washing and other essential needs.

Residents say the situation has become increasingly difficult, particularly for elderly people, who often have to stand in long queues to collect water.

Ntsoaki Mofokeng says, “We have been without water for more than three weeks, and nobody seems to be giving us clear answers. Every day we have to carry buckets to a tap in the street.

“The queues are very long, and it is heartbreaking to see elderly people standing in line for hours just to get water. The tanks are not enough for everyone. Sometimes they run empty before all residents have had a chance to collect water. People have to wait for refills or walk long distances to find another source of water,” she said.

Themba Radebe expressed concern about the health implications of living without a reliable water supply.

“We are worried about our health. Without water, maintaining proper hygiene and sanitation becomes difficult. Children, elderly people and vulnerable residents are the ones suffering the most. We cannot continue living under these conditions.

“We deserve to know what is happening. If there are problems, the municipality must tell us what they are doing to fix them and when residents can expect water to return. We cannot continue living with this uncertainty,” he said.

Heidelberg resident Bouwe Wiersma believes the current crisis highlights the need for the municipality to explore alternative water sources and better utilise the area’s natural resources.

“Lesedi Municipality has no vision. They think we have to live from grants, yet we have plenty of surface water. The private sector laughs at them as they make millions from our natural resources. The municipality should either tax them or ensure they contribute through social development initiatives. Surface water is the answer,” he said.

Wiersma also called on the municipality to invest in existing groundwater infrastructure.

“We have plenty of water, and we could even bottle and sell it. We can start by equipping our existing boreholes. At Emmardsdal there are six boreholes, but only one is equipped, and at the Army Gymnasium there are another four, with only one equipped,” he said.

The widespread outages come as Rand Water confirmed it implemented a 20% reduction in bulk potable water supply to Lesedi Local Municipality after the municipality failed to honour several scheduled payments. In a media statement, Rand Water said Lesedi owes the utility R27.71m.

The utility said it formally notified the municipality on April 14 of its intention to reduce the water supply, giving the municipality 30 days to respond, make representations and put contingency plans in place.

According to Rand Water, the notice was intended to explain the reasons for the proposed reduction, remind the municipality of its contractual and legislative obligations, allow sufficient time to notify residents and make alternative arrangements if restrictions exceeded 24 hours, and provide the municipality with an opportunity to make representations before the reduction was implemented.

Rand Water said the municipality requested that it reconsider the decision but failed to make payments towards the outstanding instalments under the debt settlement agreement.

Rand Water added that the reduction was necessary to prevent the municipality’s debt from escalating further and to safeguard its own financial sustainability.

The utility said it receives no financial allocation from the national fiscus and relies solely on revenue collected from customers, primarily municipalities, to fulfil its legal obligations.

Residents across Heidelberg are now questioning whether the reduction in bulk water supply, together with ongoing infrastructure and operational challenges within the municipality, has contributed to the widespread outages affecting communities throughout the municipal area.

Many have also criticised what they describe as poor communication from Lesedi Local Municipality regarding the cause of the outages and the expected restoration of normal water supply.

Community members are calling on Lesedi Local Municipality to provide a comprehensive explanation for the ongoing water crisis and to urgently implement measures to restore reliable water supply across Heidelberg.