Crisis not over yet

POLOKWANE – While the municipality keeps assuring people that the city’s current water crisis is nearly over, and that most residents do now have a water supply after being high and dry for just over two weeks, the unmitigated truth is neither they, nor residents, really know from day to day whether water will be available when they open their taps.

Municipal communications manager, Tidimalo Chuene, told Review yesterday (Monday) that the supply of water to the city’s reservoirs was back on track. She confirmed that, despite this, there were still residents who had no water.

The reason for this was that the city was still experiencing various random waterpipe bursts, which were being attended to as and when they occurred, as no one could foresee where, when and to what extent they would occur.

Municipal spokesperson, Matshidiso Mothapo said it could not be ascertained whether the damage by Light Fibre Infrastructure to one of the main pipelines last week, had caused a ripple effect throughout the city’s water system.

He explained that, with the recent high rainfall, the soil was saturated, making it unstable, with the water pipes also becoming unstable as a result. This could then cause pipe bursts, especially in the system where the waterpipes were already worn or slightly damaged.

He said, since no-one could forsee when pipes would burst, the municipality could not say whether water would be available from day to day.

Mothapo said it was necessary to shut off the water supply in the area affected by such a waterpipe burst, in order to repair the burst. This could often be a lengthy exercise, as the water system in the affected area had to be drained for the repair to be made. Once the repair was made, the system had to be cleared of any air and only then could the water supply be restored.

Depending on how fast the waterpipes refilled, it would still take a while for water to be flowing normally again. Bleeding of air from the system was essential, as any additional pressure to the already old system, could cause further pipe bursts.

Mothapo said the city’s water system was old and fragile, with asbestos pipes being used. The system was in the process of being replaced with PVC pipes in phases, he added.

Water reservoir levels had improved since since last Wednesday, when most of them were less than 20% full, and the Potgieter Street reservoir only 58% full. The latest figures yesterday indicated that most of the city’s reservoirs were filled to between 40 and 47%. Residents were reminded to continue to use water sparingly.

In spite of this improvement, many residents who continued to suffer water shortages said they were at the end of their tether.

Johanna Malanola said she was forced to buy water for between R10 and R15 per litre from residents who did have a water supply.

Another resident, Jo-ann Goosen, said she and her family had had no water for over two weeks. “Last weekend, we had a little bit of water, and then it dried up again,” she said, adding that her family took turns every second day to bath at an overnight accommodation facility owned by a friend.

Many other residents shared similar experiences with Review over the past two weeks.