The municipality has said ‘sorry’ for water disruptions in Suryaville.
In March, residents approached the media in relation to a series of water outages, which left them without water for hours at a time.
One residents expressed fury at not being able to bath at times.
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Others lambasted the municipality for not extending prior notice of water cuts to residents, and otherwise handling the situation poorly.
“I asked for a tanker to be dispatched on Tuesday, and the call centre woman said no one was there to authorise that. We are very frustrated.”
Weeks later, the municipality apologised to affected residents of Suryaville and provided an explanation of its intent with the project.
Officials said it was meant to replaced old water infrastructure in the area.
Noting positives, the municipality said Suryaville had been prioritised and work was expected to commence in a few months’ time.
“The contractor is currently a little behind programme with Lennoxton and as a result, the timing is not precisely defined.”
Residents were cautioned the construction work could bring further disruptions to water supply, and also informed of the appointment of a Community Liaison Officer (CLO) from the area.
This CLO can address residents’ concerns and give relevant information.
“Residents should also prepare themselves for disruptions to driveways, gardens etc. and to communicate with the CLO in this regard.”
On the matter of water tankers, the municipality said these were only provided when outages extended beyond six hours.
Officials said this was ‘very rare’.
The municipal water tanker was said to be utilised full-time to provide water to rural residents with no supply of potable water.
“This takes up the budgets for water tankers, and only in an emergency situation where there is an extended outage, will tankers be deployed.”
Suryaville residents were also urged to store water within a clean, closed container in preparation for breaks in service delivery.
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The municipality also commented on alleged littering by employees.
Officials said workers were supervised by artisans and foremen, but noted a general culture of littering throughout Newcastle.
“The culture has not changed as we hoped it would. We will have to keep working towards that end.”
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