Water wasted by the liters
Residential areas such as Aloe Ridge East and West have been struggling with water shortages for the past year.
A mere 100 metres away, in Lions Rock, water spills from a fire hydrant. This specific hydrant has been running on and off for weeks on end. On various occasions residents reported that trucks can be spotted filling water tanks with water from this hydrant.
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Sometimes it seemed as if the hydrant is “locked”, but periodically trucks return to fill up their water tanks. This is not the only hydrant where such water grabbing is taking place.
Steelburger/Lydenburg News has been anonymously informed about other places where it also occurs.
Read more: Hoax water message leads to a case of sabotage
Some residents are disgruntled about the fact that they do not have water, while trucks are still tapping thousands of litres water a day from hydrants. Jo-Anne Cremer is one of these people. She is furious about the lack from the municipality to curb these irregularities and their negligence to close the hydrants properly.
Anne (not real name) is a resident from Aloe Ridge West. She, on the other hand, supports the trucks. “When we are left without water for days on end, I do make use of these water tankers. I am not particularly proud of it, but what else can one do when you need water to flush toilets and for other necessities?” she said. She claims to pay them R500 to fill her own water tank at home.
At the time of going to press, the Sekhukhune District Municipality had not responded to an enquiry about the situation.
