Soshanguve residents complain of water interruptions

An “infrastructure failure” at the Rand Water’s Palmiet booster pumping station which left parts of Pretoria, including Soshanguve, without water this week has residents fuming.

They claimed the Tshwane metro had failed to communicate with them as to the reasons they were left without water since Sunday.

Residents said they were not informed about possible water interruptions and they had not been provided with water tankers since their taps dried up.

Jerry Maphanga, a resident from block BB, said they had not had water since Monday afternoon, and they were not given any warning that they would be without any water.

“We started noticing that we did not have water around 15:00. There was no communication from the metro apart from a statement that was sent on Tuesday morning by a community member in one of the community groups.”

Maphanga said the water interruptions have caused much inconvenience to his family.

“We cannot cook, we cannot bath and we cannot go to the toilet.

The entire Soshanguve does not have water and that makes it difficult to go to nearby blocks with buckets to get water.

This has a direct impact on our health because we are also faced with Covid-19.

“I am also building in my house and the more it delays, the more I suffer financially. We have been without water for too long and we want the metro to provide us with water tankers.”

Another resident from block TT, Mandla Baloyi, said they have been without water since Sunday, and they were not given any warnings about water interruptions.

Baloyi said they have also not been provided with water tankers since the water interruptions.

“We just woke up and there was no water. The water that we sometimes store in buckets is finished and you cannot just go and ask for water from neighbours because they also do not have.

“We are stranded because we cannot cook, we cannot go to the toilet as well. I have not seen a single water tanker around and I wish the metro would have prepared us for this.”

Tshwane metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said as soon as the water utility, Rand Water, informed the metro’s water and sanitation department, the metro communicated on all platforms about possible water outages.

“The metro has not folded its arms; instead, we organised water tankers which are strategically stationed at areas where people can get water.”

Mashigo said residents within the metro’s jurisdiction are urged to reduce their water consumption to avoid possible water shortages following the infrastructure failure at the Rand Water’s Palmiet booster pumping station.

He said Rand Water notified the city on Monday that the said infrastructure failure has affected its station’s water pumping capacity, and that it could only supply 55% of its normal daily water supply volume.

“Rand Water has emphasised that if the call to reduce water consumption is not heeded. There will not be sufficient water to supply municipalities and its reservoirs will run dry. The city’s water reservoir levels will also drop and ultimately run dry – a situation that will lead to inevitable water supply interruptions.”

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