Joburg Water does not mark underground fire hydrants
The entity no longer installs pavement-level hydrants with pipe, standing-style ones being the new standard, but thousands of below-ground ones remain.
The city has two types of fire hydrants that the fire department uses to extinguish a blaze. These are situated every 300m or so along roads and are either older below-ground hydrants or pavement upright ones.
Residents must acquaint themselves with where the nearest hydrant is to their home or office because Johannesburg Water (JW) does not mark their location. This may mean firefighters could lose precious seconds, especially at night, trying to locate a water source.
JW spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala says, “Above-ground hydrants are visible and are painted yellow on the riser pipes with red hydrant heads. We no longer instal below-ground hydrants nor mark them as there is no provision for this in the by-laws.”
She says this is done on occasion, ‘based on available finances and resources’.
Despite them being ‘old specification’ hydrants, below-ground ones are still in use and at night can be extremely difficult to locate as they have a small yellow plastic lid on the pavement as a marker. Their location is further hidden when lawns and other plants have been grown to beautify verges.
When asked about repairs to hydrants identified by fire departments during monthly inspections, she says the entity endeavours to repair these within a week, ‘depending on backlogs, priorities, risk, and the stock availability of materials’.
Three faulty hydrants identified by the Roosevelt Fire Department though in Fairland have, however, remained faulty since February.
Members of the public can report damaged or broken hydrants via Twitter: @JHBWater; email: customerserviceemails@jwater.co.za; a 24-hour hotline 011 688 1699/ 086 056 2874 or via SMS on 45201.
Related Article:
