Various unattended freshwater leaks throughout Florida Hills have residents fuming at Johannesburg Water’s (JW) alleged lack of urgency.

“Thousands of litres of fresh potable water are literally running down the drain,” says Florida Hills Residents Forum chairperson Stanton Nell.

“We have spots where the water runs down one stormwater drain, only to encounter a blocked drain and re-emerge on the road, to run down another drain.

“One resident’s yard is permanently underwater from a leaking pipe on his sidewalk.

“His boundary wall is in real danger of collapsing, and his paving is being eroded.

“JW is simply not responding to our calls for action.

Who is going to pay for the damage resulting from the water leaks?”

A short tour of Florida Hills revealed at least three other spots where leaking water is running down roads and causing damage to the road surface due to erosion.

“As residents, we do our best to keep our neighbourhood clean and safe. Unfortunately, we are just not getting the support from the entities with regard to upkeep and timeous repair of infrastructure.

“They want to introduce higher tariffs, but we are not getting any joy in terms of service delivery.

“Our main feed coming into Florida Hills at Ian and Oosthuizen Streets is leaking and threatening to become another Etna Street-type mess, where water leaks have caused the road surface to completely cave in.

“The entity is not at all forthcoming with information as to what the hold-up is, and when the various issues are going to be attended to.”

The Roodepoort Record has posed questions to JW, and will include their answers in a follow-up article when received.