Kempton Park residents have been plagued by a series of water supply issues during the past few months. These issues include low water pressure, daily water outages and water leaks.
By failing to tend to these water issues, Ekurhuleni Metro is not only inconveniencing residents, but is also allowing precious water to go to waste during a time when the country as a whole is stricken by drought, said ward councillor Jaco Terblanche.
“The continuous leaks and low water pressure also caused several infrastructure failures such as the sinkhole on Monument Road in early December. As a result, I submitted a petition to council in January, requesting the urgent intervention of the water department in this regard,” Terblanche said in a statement on Monday.
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“In an attempt to create a communications platform for residents through which they can raise their individual water struggles and feedback could be provided, I arranged a public meeting for January 28. During the meeting the following was discussed:
“A water feed running between the Isando and Jan Smuts reservoirs sometimes pushes the water back into the Jan Smuts reservoir, causing it to overflow. The water department has communicated that when this happen they have to manually close the water flow at Jan Smuts reservoir and drain it back into the Isando reservoir.
“However, residents of Kempton Park extension 2-4, Aston Manor, Nimrod Park, Allen Grove and Glen Marais are without water for up to two hours every time this process is followed. Aggravating the situation is the faulty overflow valve of the Jan Smuts reservoir.
“The department assured me they were in the process of testing the entire PRV valve system and that faulty valves would be repaired between 10pm and 3am at night as to not inconvenience residents. This should prevent the water from pushing back into the Jan Smuts reservoir and avert the need for the system to be reversed in order to restore normal functionality,” Terblanche said.
“The department further acknowledged that the water network was outdated and urgent maintenance was needed. However, they are not able to replace the entire water network infrastructure of Kempton Park and therefore is only replacing infrastructure in areas with high failure risks.
“A new reservoir is also planned for Sim Street in Glen Marais to address the low water pressure in Bredell, Glen Marais, Aston Manor and Nimrod Park. According to the department this project should be completed within the next three years.
“I was assured that residents would be experiencing an improvement in water pressure by February 29. I will also be following up with residents about the fixture of reported water leaks.
“If, however, residents are still experiencing low water pressure and reported leaks have not been repaired, I will be submitting an urgent motion to council for a discussion on this matter during the March council meeting,” Terblanche said.
