Water outage affecting Queenswood and nearby areas is extended
Ward councillor Roelof Fourie urged residents to make use of water tankers that have been deployed until water is restored.
Areas supplied by the Queenswood East and West reservoirs faced water outages on Friday, with repair complications leading to further delays.
On Thursday, January 4, the City of Tshwane said that a major leak on the main bulk pipeline needed to be repaired. It was estimated that the repair work would be completed within 20 hours.
The Metro said that the repairs were completed in the early hours of Friday morning and water was reopened before a second leak was discovered close to where the first leak was repaired.
Ward councillor Roelof Fourie said that by Friday afternoon, technicians were busy welding on flanges to the pipe segments, to be able to bolt them together. “If nothing goes wrong, they expect the pipes to be joined between 22:00 and 23:00 tonight,” he said, adding “When the reservoir level is sufficient enough, the network will receive water again.”
Fourie added that residents should be aware that the water restoration could lead to further leaks. “Because the pipes are empty of water, they are full of air. The air must be displaced in order to make space for the water,” he explained. “If water flows into the pipes too quickly, shockwaves are generated, which can cause pipes to burst,” Fourie said that fire hydrants would need to be opened to let the air out. “If all goes well, water should be available by tomorrow morning.”
He said that residents could make use of water tankers in the meantime. “They will remain at the 7 locations for today. We were told that they will be available until 21:00. Also bear in mind that when the tankers run dry, they need to go fill up again, which takes about an hour on average.”
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