Monday, and Vryheid wakes to no water

THERE was no water in Vryheid’s taps this morning. The water pressure was fine on Sunday night, and presumably those who rise very early had water this morning as the system was drained, but later… nothing.

It means that the reservoirs on Vryheid Hill were empty. Water is pumped to those reservoirs and then the town is gravity-fed with its water. So why wasn’t water pumped to the reservoirs?

On Monday morning no one who was asked knew the answer. The municipal Engineer’s Department said a pump failed, but Cllr Harry Heyn’s information was that there was an electrical fault, but where the fault occurred had not yet been ascertained.

The fault could lie at the Klipfontein Dam pumping tower or at the Klipfontein purification plant. It could be cable theft, it could be a technical fault.

They’re working on it.