The residents in the area of Homes Haven Extension 23, Pinehaven, Featherbrooke Hills Retirement Village, Ruby’s Corner and surrounding villages are regularly experiencing water breakdowns.
At the end of January we were without water for about 10 hours, due to a burst pipe. Earlier in March, we had periods of no water every day. The second week of March we had another breakdown.
This is totally unacceptable. I am a retired civil engineer and understand that there are pressure-reducing valves on the water line from Krugersdorp, but obviously the valves are not functioning, get dirty and don’t work or are being vandalised. It must cost the Mogale City Local Municipality thousands of rands fixing all the breakages.
It also causes damage to residents’ pressure valves as they get clogged with dirty water entering at the places where pipes are being fixed, or clog up the strainers at each tap in the kitchen and bathrooms, and toilet valves. It is also a health hazard, as germs are entering the pipe system with the mud that is sucked into the pipes, and this can lead to residents being infected by E. coli and other stomach bacteria, that can cause diarrhoea.
Engineering standards require that on gravity-fed water systems reservoirs should have a 24-hour supply of water, Thousands of houses were built in the area since the pipeline was laid, and I am sure that the reservoir supplying the area doesn’t have the required capacity for the number of users.
The only solution is to build a pressure-releasing reservoir between Krugersdorp and the Featherbrooke Estate.
