Weltevreden Park water leak enters fourth week
The failed repair attempt has left the affected people searching for answers, as there is no estimate of when the pipe will be properly fixed.
A water leak at the Weltevreden Park Tennis Sports Club has remained unresolved since June 15, despite several repair attempts by Johannesburg Water (JW), resulting in repeated water interruptions, extensive damage to the club’s courts and concerns over water wastage.
The Roodepoort Northsider spoke to Ward 89 councillor Zander Shawe and club representative Yusuf Coovadia about the ongoing impact of the leak.
According to Shawe, Johannesburg Water has made several attempts to repair the damaged pipe, including shutting off the water supply to parts of Weltevreden Park on June 27 to carry out repairs.
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Residents were initially informed that the work would be completed that evening, but repairs were delayed while officials waited for an excavation team before replacing a damaged gasket. Although residents were later notified that the repairs had been completed and the water supply restored, the pipe began leaking again a few days later.
Shawe said the latest information he had received from Johannesburg Water was that repairs had been placed on hold while a contractor sourced another replacement gasket.
“They’re waiting for the contractor to get a gasket,” he said.
The ongoing leak has also caused extensive damage to the tennis club’s courts. Coovadia estimated the damage at hundreds of thousands of rands and said a nearby clinic had also been affected by water flowing through its parking area.
“This has inconvenienced their patients because of the flooding of water that’s going through the car park and everywhere,” he said.
Coovadia questioned why the repairs had taken so long.
“Millions of litres of fresh water have also been wasted. What we don’t understand is why it has taken more than three weeks to repair the leak,” he said.
He added that the club is investigating the possibility of recovering the cost of the damage.
The Northsider asked Johannesburg Water what caused the leak, why repeated repair attempts had failed, how much water had been lost and when the leak would be permanently repaired.
By Monday, July 6, the leak was still ongoing, and Johannesburg Water had not responded to the newspaper’s questions by the publication deadline. The story will be updated should a response be received.
