Gerhardsville residents without water for more than two days
Metro will provide water tankers to Gerhardsville residents while waiting to acquire the required pipe, fittings, and specialised welding of the 400mm diameter pipe.
Gerhardsville residents in Centurion have been without water for more than 48 hours due to a water pipe burst.
“The same pipe was ‘fixed’ less than four weeks ago,” resident Jan van der Westhuizen told Rekord.
“This time round we were promised that we should have our water back this past Monday by the same useless metro plumber. We waited for the plumber on the site from 10:00 until 14:00.”
Westhuizen said when they tried to inform their local ward councillor about the situation, he told them it was out of his hands.
“But we, the voters, are without water as they don’t stay in our area. Our families and animals are without water and I can tell you that we still won’t have any water by tomorrow.”
He said that the metro was providing them with a water tank, but complained that the tank was too small for such an agricultural area that relied on water for survival.
“Each farm needs about 5 000 litres of water to keep animals hydrated. They try, but my biggest concern is that we are not being provided with drinkable water,” he said.
Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said they were made aware of the leak this past Sunday but due to bad weather conditions, the water distribution team could not assess the damage to the pipe. They did, however, manage to do that on Monday.
Mashigo told Rekord that the team will have to replace 6m of damaged water pipe.
“The procurement process is underway to acquire the required pipe, fittings, and specialised welding of the 400mm diameter pipe. In the meantime, the metro will ensure that residents receive water through tankers,” he said.
Mashigo said residents would be kept up-to-date on the water interruption repairs.
This pipe burst comes only a month after utility and infrastructure MMC Daryl Johnston announced that the municipality will replace 18 420m of pipes through a series of projects.
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