Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink in Mogale
It is evident that when a pipe is repaired another burst occurs in the same area.
According to Dennis Pretorius, councillor in the West Rand District Municipality as well as DA ward councillor for the Mindalore area, Mogale City Local Municipality has failed another crucial test – infrastructure maintenance 101.
Last week, Mindalore residents experienced four major water-pipe bursts in their area, and in each case the water losses were enormous.
Firstly, a pipe burst in Piet Meyer Street on Monday evening and was reported to the municipality by the local Community Policing Forum.
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“The water gushed out of the burst pipe at a rate of thousands of litres per hour and continued to do so until the next day, when only at 3pm were the valves finally closed to prevent further losses,” Pretorius said in a statement to the News.
In the meantime, another pipe burst in the Seehof Street area. This pipe was repaired by 1pm on Wednesday, but very shortly thereafter, a pipe burst in Adam Street – that was fixed during Wednesday evening.
The fourth pipe burst on Thursday morning in Moller Street and again Mogale City lost a large amount of precious water.
“It would appear that the process of releasing water, and the resultant pressure build-up in the system after repairs, is not managed well.” It is evident that when a pipe is repaired another burst occurs in the same area.
“It is not surprising that the municipality lost about 40 per cent of the water purchased from Rand Water over the last four financial years. If adequate funding was provided in its budgets for regular maintenance, the losses could have been reduced substantially, thereby saving millions. Instead of doing regular planned maintenance, the municipality decided to withdraw the free 6 kilolitre water from residents’ billing – punishing residents for maintenance failures by the water and sanitation department.
“A well-run municipality will ensure proper planned maintenance and swift attention to water leaks. It is time that Mogale residents and businesses demand answers from Mogale City about the extent of water losses and the failure to attend to water leaks timeously. These maintenance failures are no longer acceptable, and the Municipal Manager should be held accountable for these losses.”
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