We’re in it up to here… and it’s not water

SOME residents woke on Tuesday morning this week to find their taps dry, and if there was water then it was at an extremely reduced pressure.

The reason was that there was a huge pipe burst over towards Vryheid East on Monday night, and it drained all the municipal reservoirs.It was repaired on Tuesday morning, but waking to waterless taps and reduced pressure will soon be a daily occurrence if it doesn’t rain soon.

By Tuesday, the problem around transferring Grootgewacht Dam’s contents to Bloemveld Dam had not been resolved.

Broken pipes between the two dams have delayed the transfer, with accessibility to the pipeline being an added difficulty.

The Engineer’s Department were still working on the line on Tuesday as the Herald went to press.

Klipfontein Dam meanwhile, will have fallen to less than 30% of its capacity.

It was estimated that on Monday it stood at 28.9% full, falling by about 1.4% per week.

And reports are that even those people with boreholes in Vryheid are experiencing a falling water table, some holes yielding no water already.

In Paulpietersburg the situation is even more dire, their dam having been empty for months.

Apparently, door to door deliveries of water is taking place, with the private sector supplementing local government efforts.