Municipality responds to water gone to waste
Beardall Street is still to be repaired, as the damaged water pipe is located beneath a tree which must first be removed, to provide workers access to the pipe.
Staff constraints are putting more pressure on municipal Water Services.
In response to a number of water-related problems recently, Head of Communications for Newcastle Municipality, Dr Dumisani Thabethe explained there were full-time staff allocated to deal with these.
“The staff however, has been considerably depleted compared to previous years and the instances requiring attention have increased due to ageing infrastructure.”
Recent water issues include the pothole on Coronation Road (last week’s front page story), a literal geyser on Marconi Drive and a persistent water leak on Beardall Street.
These three matters were also responded to directly.
Newcastle Municipality states Coronation Road has not been repaired, and ‘has probably been placed as a lower priority as the volume of water being wasted is small’.
It also notes there is a considerable backlog.
Beardall Street is still to be repaired, as the damaged water pipe is located beneath a tree which must first be removed, to provide workers access to the pipe.
For Marconi Drive, response given was as follows: “The head of the fire hydrant was stolen, causing a jet of high pressure water to be wasted. The water was closed using valves and the hydrant blanked off, awaiting spares to effect the repair.”
In conclusion, Dr Thabethe noted the Water Services team was extremely busy, and said specific issues were managed according to priority.
Who is liable to pay for water which goes to waste?
“It depends upon the position of the leak in relation to the water meter – rule of thumb is that if the leak is after the meter, the customer is responsible, while if the leak occurs on the municipal side, the municipality is responsible.”
ORIGINAL STORY: Dear Newcastle Municipality: ‘Get your ducks in a row!’
Contact us
WhatsApp: 082 874 5550
Email: Reveshni Douglas (Editor) at reveshni@caxton.co.za
Make sure you follow us for regular updates:
