Disgruntled Blythedale residents without water for almost a week

A broken water pipe left more than 2,000 Blythedale residents, including frail care patients, without water for almost a week.

According to residents the taps ran dry on Wednesday, October 16 and despite numerous calls to the municipality’s call centre and messages to the WhatsApps number, it took days for municipal officials to act.

The arrival of a municipal water tanker on Sunday seemed messianic to the residents who had been without water for almost five days. Many residents resorted to buying bottled water to bath and flush toilets, while those with pools had to resort to using their pool water as nobody knew when the supply would be restored. JoJo tanks had also run out by the weekend.

“The calls to the call centre during the week went unanswered and the messages sent out by Ilembe officials to our Blythedale Beach Residents and Ratepayers’ Association (BBRRA) were misleading and created false expectations as they kept reassuring us that they were on top of the situation and the water would be restored,” said a resident who did not wish to be named.

On Monday, Ilembe District Municipality issued a statement saying the “water shortage” had been due to a technical fault.

“The technical fault in Blythedale has been discovered and resolved. The residents in the low-lying areas will receive water from 2pm while those living in lower areas will receive water from 6pm. The Ilembe District Municipality would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused during the past few days,” the statement read.

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On Monday, Ilembe District Municipality mayor Siduduzo Gumede apologised to the residents for not receiving any water for the past six days.

According to the statement repairs to the Blythedale pipe near Sappi had taken place on Saturday and water levels at the reservoir had increased but residents still remained without water.

“On Sunday we suspected a pipeline break in the Blythedale forest and Ilembe technical services were busy doing investigations on which pipeline was broken,” he said.

The water woes are not new to the residents of Blythedale, who for many years have battled with disrupted services.

At a media briefing last year the mayor revealed that the concrete pipeline supplying water from the Mvoti Waterworks to the KwaDukuza central business district and surrounding areas was the reason for the water supply challenges currently facing the Ilembe District Municipality as it was about 65 years old.

“We now have two sources of water that we control. We took over the control of the Mvoti Waterworks from Umgeni and we also have the Thukela Bulk Water Scheme that we can tap into,” Gumede said.

“We have old infrastructure that will break from time to time and that we have to repair and maintain while trying to put in new infrastructure. The fact is we have people who are not paying for services and as such we do not have money for repairs and maintenance,” he said.

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