Leak fixed: Relief for one frustrated resident, but what about the others?
For now, Anton is relieved that the leak is fixed. But he is still wondering why it took so long and why he had to foot the bill.
A three-week water leak outside Anton Verwey’s house has finally been fixed, but this experience has left him with frustration and financial costs. The leak from a burst pipe caused water to flow down the street, further damaging the road that is already full of potholes.
According to Anton, he first reported the leak via the Smart City mobile application to Johannesburg Water (JW), and he was hopeful it would get fixed on time after getting reference numbers. On June 2, Anton was surprised to get an SMS telling him that the leak had been fixed when water was still in fact running down the street.
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The next day, a dedicated team from JW was on site, and Anton shared that he was told the issue was his to fix since the origin of the leak was said to be from a sprinkler. This prompted him to make a decision and get a private plumber, out of his own pocket, to come and assess the issue to determine whose problem it was to fix.
“The plumber emptied the hole. Water is coming from the mainline going across the street,” he says.
The Roodepoort Northsider visited the site on June 5, and after that, sent questions to JW, and no response or updates were received from them, except when they asked for the leak’s reference number. On June 10, Anton shared that a team from JW was deployed to attend to the leak, and that is when it was finally fixed.
Also read: Rusty water leak damages estate wall
Although the fix may be good news for Anton, it does not ease his worries about how these issues are dealt with.
“I sense that JW has neither the capacity nor the competence to address these issues. Our area is not the only one with these challenges, and my concern is that they will only get worse,” Anton says.
