Water problems in West Acres were finally resolved yesterday.
Spokesman for Sembcorp Silulumanzni, Mr Richard Jele said clean water supply was restored to the last five streets at around 12:00.
“Problem solved,” he said.
Capt Dawie Pretorius, spokesman for the Mbombela Police, says no case regarding the attempted theft of a power cable, which caused the water shortage, have been reported to the police by Mbombela Local Municipality (MLM) as yet.
Mr Joseph Ngala, spokesman for MLM, could not be reached for comment on the matter.
Botched cable theft interrupts services, January 20, 2016, 08;42
An attempt to steal a copper cable at the Nelspruit Water Treatment Plant in the early hours of Tuesday morning, ruined residents’ day when they were not only left without electricity, but also without water in their taps.
This morning residents of some streets in West Acres remained without water in their taps.
Mr Richmond Jele, spokesman for Sembcorp Silulumanzi, said there had been issues with air in pipes in the area, and it took a long time to restore clean water supply.
In addition, a pipe burst in Butler Street, while Schoeman, Savannah and Belladonna streets have very low water pressure.
“Our operations team is diverting water through a bigger pipe to provide a solution,” he said this morning.
He further explained that is was believed that two suspects had tried to steal a large copper cable in the early hours on Tuesday morning. The cable provides electricity to the water treatment plant .
Tthey damaged it to cause a short to switch off the current, and then tried to cut it elsewhere in order to steal it.
Officers of J&M Security arrived at the scene shortly before the power went off, after the private security guard at the plant alerted them to the presence of the suspects, explained operational manager Mr Shaun Terblanche.
They found the cable cut, but the men had fled without their intended loot.
However, this left the plant and surrounding area of Riverside Industrial without electricity, resulting in an inability to pump water into the reservoirs servicing Mbombela, Valencia, Nelsville, West Acres, Sonheuwel, Penryn, Drumrock, Rocky Drift and Phumlani.
Traffic lights in the area did not operate during rush-hour traffic, while municipal traffic officers regulated traffic on the R40 to White River.
One of the businesses affected was the SAPS Vehicle Identification and Safeguarding Section in Riverside Industrial Park.
One of the employees said they had been unable to perform any work the entire day. This left a few customers hot under the collar, as they couldn’t reregister their vehicles without the service, and continued to drive around with invalid licences.
Soon, the water levels were running critically low, while Mbombela Local Municipality (MLM) technicians attempted to replace the damaged parts of the cable.
Jele said it was a lengthy, complicated process, and the first attempt saw the joints explode too. However, the technicians kept at it until power was finally restored at 00:20.
In the meanwhile water supply had begun to run dry in certain areas. Once the power had been restored, it took some hours yesterday morning for water levels in the reservoirs to return to normal.
Two residents of West Acres, returned home after going to the gym at around 20:00, to find the taps dry. They used the water left over in the garden hose to fill up bottles and basins to be able to wash.
At around 09:00 Sembcorp announced that reservoirs have reached a satisfactory level and water has been opened for distribution to all customers.
“However, due to air pressure in some parts of the water-distribution network, some customers may have experienced or are still experiencing a delay in receiving water in their households.
“Our teams are out in the field doing all they can to relieve the water-distribution network of the air and scour the network. There might also be some isolated pipe bursts due the pressure in the network.”
At the time of going to print, the police could not confirm whether a case of attempted theft had been opened by the municipality. Mr Joseph Ngala, spokesman for MLM, could not be reached for comment.
