POLOKWANE – The city’s water crisis has now reached a point where residents have accepted that solutions to the challenge are beyond the political will and capacity of the municipality and threats of full-scale protest action are made.

The taps of residents of Ster Park have been dry for 29 days and in Môregloed consumers are relying on water tankers that are sporadically deployed for months now, as well as in other areas in the city cluster.

The sources of water are the Olifantspoort Plant, Ebenezer Dam, Dap Naudé Dam, Dalmada waste water treatment plant and the recently completed waste water treatment plant at Seshego as well as more than 200 boreholes, but due to frequent disruptions in supply, the city reservoirs rarely rehabilitate to such an extent that consistent pressure and flow can be obtained.

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There are 37 water trucks to service 16 regional water schemes in the 45 wards which are not enough to supply water to everyone during this water crisis. Not all trucks are currently operational.

The two primary reservoir sites where water is reticulated from are the Krugersburg site near Mall of the North and the Potgieter Street reservoirs. On Tuesday, the reservoirs on Krugersburg were at 62% and 65% respectively, but no water reached residents.

The Krugersburg site comprises a 30Ml dome roof and a 30 Ml flat roof reservoir as well as a 50Ml reservoir that has not been utilised for years, each serving distinct zones within Polokwane.

The dome reservoir supplies Thornhill, Mall of the North, Northview, portions of Bendor below Munnik Drive, FNB, BMW, Coca-Cola, SAB, and the Staffix area.

The source is the Ebenezer pipeline, which also supplies Boyne, Mankweng, Sebayeng, and Dikgale.

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The licensed capacity is 32Ml per day. According to a source, the problem currently being experienced is the issue of constant power dips caused by power reduction and vegetation over growth underneath power lines.

The flat reservoir supplies Flora Park, Serala View, Ster Park, portions of Bendor and Môregloed and is fed from the Olifantspoort Pipeline with a licensed capacity of 27Ml per day.

The challenge is that the reservoir currently only receives about 50% of capacity when no issues from Lepelle Northern Water are experienced.

The two 11.37Ml reservoirs in Potgieter Street are supplied by the Dalmada pipeline from the Dalmada waste water treatment works and serves Westenberg, the city centre below Potgieter Avenue and Ladanna Industria.

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The reservoirs were receiving water reliably until last week, when a major pipe burst occurred on the feeder line, which disrupted supply.

Supply from LNW is inconsistent and the Olifantspoort Plant was subjected to power outages last week and a further shutdown by LNW is planned for this Wednesday and Thursday, as well as on October 21-22. After each shutdown, it takes approximately two to three days for the system to stabilise.

From the above, it is evident that the situation is complex, but residents fail to understand why the municipality cannot source expertise to attend to the challenges and not rely on internal capacity and simply offer apologies.

“We don’t want a solution just before the municipal elections, we want it now,” one resident said.