Municipal power failure and generator fault draw public frustration
Ermelo faces a widespread water outage after an alleged power failure and generator fault at Northern Water Treatment Works.
ERMELO – Large parts of Ermelo and surrounding areas were left without water on Tuesday morning, July 8, after the Northern Water Treatment Works became non-operational, allegedly due to a power failure and subsequent generator malfunction.
In a notice issued by the Msukaligwa Local Municipality, it informed residents of the unplanned water supply interruption, stating:
“The municipality would like to inform residents that the Northern Water Treatment Works has been non-operational since midnight due to a power outage. Operations were further delayed due to a mechanical fault on the backup generator, which had been running continuously for an extended period.”
The municipality indicated that the generator had since been attended to and that the plant was in the process of restarting.
However, it cautioned that many residents would continue to experience little to no water pressure while the system stabilises.
Affected areas might include:
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Ermelo East
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Ermelo Town
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Ermelo Industrial Area
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Parts of Nederland Park
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Wesselton Extensions 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, and 11
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Everest Park
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Longhomes
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KwaMazakhele
“The municipality apologises for the inconvenience and appreciates your patience as we work to restore normal water supply,” the statement concluded.
The outage sparked frustration among residents, with some calling for better planning and accountability from the municipality.
Lourens de Beer was particularly critical, accusing officials of mismanagement.
“Kindly get the story straight. Also please get qualified technicians to do maintenance and repairs,” De Beer commented on the municipality’s public statement on Facebook.
“This is not a rusty container spaza shop you are running. This is a multi-million rand operation funded by hard-working taxpayers! Kindly take notice.”
While restoration efforts are underway, no official timeframe has been provided for when full water supply will be re-established.
Residents are encouraged to use water sparingly once pressure returns, as it may take several hours for reservoir levels to recover fully.
