Relief for Ikageng residents with no water for 4 years
Water supply will be restored to the community once the repair work has been completed and the valve has been reopened, says Tshwane spokesperson.
There is finally hope on the horizon for residents in Ikageng as Tshwane’s regional team is currently engaged in urgent repair work to restore water supply to the community.
Residents in this area have been plagued by irregular water supply for years, with many of them having to rely on water tankers.
According to Tshwane metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo, the metro’s bulk team has closed an outgoing valve of the R4 reservoir to allow the regional team to repair a leak in the network that has been affecting residents of Ikageng.
He said as of August 14 the R3 and R4 reservoirs were at 47% and 71% capacity respectively.
Mashigo said the water supply will be restored once repair work has been completed and the valve reopened.
“With the recent removal of illegal connections, reservoir levels have improved from constantly being at 1% to currently being at 70%.
Addressing the leaks will help maintain adequate reservoir levels for supplying water to residents.”
Mashigo said that the metro is in the final stages of hiring security guards to protect reservoir sites.
He added that the presence of security personnel at the reservoir sites would help deter any illegal activity.
“I hope residents will protect the fencing around the reservoir area as it is equally theirs, not just of the city,” said Mashigo.
Image: Stock picture
The metro recently removed illegal water connections at the R3 and R4 reservoirs and tackled illegal electrical connections in various areas of Mamelodi on August 6.
At the time, MMC for Utilities and Regional Operations and Co-ordination Themba Fosi said the unauthorised electricity and water connections hindered supply.
He said during the operation, water network components were dislodged and removed.
“The Mamelodi R3 and R4 reservoirs are vital components of the water supply infrastructure for Mamelodi and broader areas,” said Fosi.
Ikageng Ext 3 resident Vusi Makuwa said the water crisis has been affecting the community for a long time.
He said they have been receiving water from water tankers for four years.
“It’s been really bad. We have the elderly in the community who are sick and need to take medication every night, but sometimes they are unable to because they don’t have water,” he said.
Makuwa said they usually have to wait long hours, sometimes days before a water tanker arrives.
“We always have to stand in long queues to get water, and sometimes the water runs out while others haven’t received any.
When we don’t get water, we have to travel long distances to ask for water in other communities,” said Makuwa.
He said this ends up becoming a problem because most residents don’t have a car.
“We have been asking why we still don’t have water in Ikageng but are always told that the issue is with the reservoirs. Which does not make sense because other areas that get supplied with water from those reservoirs have water.”
Makuwa said one of their biggest problems is that their toilets get dirty and smelly and are therefore unhygienic.
“We stay with children, and they could easily get sick because of this environment,” he said.
Another resident who wanted to remain anonymous said at first the water used to come out a bit in the middle of the night, but for the past two months there has been none at all.
She said they used to wake up in the middle of the night to fill their buckets with water.
“If you didn’t wake up at night to get water, it meant that you wouldn’t have any the whole day,” she said.
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