Limpopo: Building on main water pipe line poses a danger to residents

The Ministry of Human Settlement Water and Sanitation under the stewardship of Minister Lindiwe Sisulu is extremely concerned about the mushrooming of illegal and legal settlement constructed on or near main water servitudes across the country, Letaba Herald reports.

The ageing infrastructure, leaking and the frequent pipe bursts in most parts of the country are of great concern to the Ministry.

The Department, together with water service providers, has embarked on the refurbishment of main water pipeline infrastructure and the replacement of old pipes with new ones, to meet the growing population demand. This is a  joint exercise between the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) with the local municipalities and waterboards.

“Culprits that encroach on water servitudes are running the risk of losing their lives in the event of a pipe burst,” DWS said

Building a house on top of a major water supply pipeline is hazardous to residents.

Such malpractices must be addressed at early detection by, either fining the culprits by water service provider concerned or the responsible water-board.

Currently, in South Africa, our water gets channelled by using high calibre pipelines ranging from 600mm to 900mm with hydraulic pressure rating (PN) 250 bar.

In this kind of pressure mount, should there be a hole in the pipe, water will gash out to approximately 20 meters in the air.

That demonstrates the danger of encroaching on water servitudes.

Because South Africa is one of  the driest and water-scarce countries in the world, we should attend to any water loss urgently as and when it happens, according to the DWS

It becomes a challenge when the main pipeline has to be fixed but access denied. Due to settlements that are built on structures making it difficult for engineers to access the pipes for maintenance and inspections purpose.

“This kind of inappropriate behaviour puts the lives of the innocent in danger should the pressure in the pipe cause pipe-burst. Local municipalities are also urged to play a leading role in overseeing illegal settlement structures on servitudes.’