Water woes leave residents wet
Residents were constantly given the run-around, and the question posed by them, “What happened to the water?” was never answered.
Water is often regarded as the gift of life. From bathing to cooking, water is a necessity.
So, what did you do when the water stopped flowing from your taps this weekend?
The water shortages began when a planned installation of a 700mm-diameter pipe was introduced to the Farmer’s Hall pump station on Friday and Saturday. Newcastle Municipality issued a warning to residents regarding the shortages, but for many, the water was never restored until Monday night and Tuesday morning in the afflicted areas.
In the midst of it all, some residents found some humour in the matter, suggesting those without water should bathe in the rain experienced on Sunday night.
In the absence of this much-needed water supply, many residents took to social media to vent their dismay. Further aggravating the issue was the municipality’s apparent lack of communication in answering residents’ questions and the fact that many residents not expecting the continued water shortage, had unknowingly switched on their geysers, thus incurring repair costs.
Residents were constantly given the run-around, and the question posed by them, “What happened to the water?” was never answered. The water shortages affected many of Newcastle’s northern suburbs, including Hutten Heights, Arbor Park, Ncandu Park, Sunnyridge, Aviary Hill and others.
Customer Relations Manager, Dr Duminsani Thabthe was contacted for comment regarding the issue but denied to do so, redirecting journalists to the municipality’s Department of Communications.
A media inquiry was sent on Monday February 16 at 9:33am to the communications officials. To date, no responses have been received.
According to Mayor Afzul Rehman, he had approved the response to the media inquiry on Monday afternoon.
The following questions were posed to the municipality:
– Has the problem with the water service delivery been identified, and what is it?
– What timeline can residents expect before this issue is addressed?
– What statement regarding this issue will the municipality offer?
– Is the matter directly linked to the infrastructure improvement that occurred over the weekend?
– Has any lasting damage been caused to the current infrastructure of the municipality due to this current problem?
– Why did this happen? Were there no contingency plans in place in case of such an event, and what were these contingency plans?
