Johannesburg Water faces a backlog in attending to widespread water leaks across the southern suburbs of Florida.

Florida South Residents Association chairperson Rodney Churchyard said he has actively followed up with the municipal entity on various reported leaks, but with little success.

“There are serious water leaks that simply are not being attended to,” Churchyard said.

The Roodepoort Record approached Johannesburg Water with a list of reference numbers, some of which were reported to the entity as far back as June.

According to Johannesburg Water spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala, the standard response time for attending to bursts and leaking water pipes is 48 hours, while leaking meters should take three days.

“However, these response times can fluctuate and be delayed according to the nature and magnitude of the work or repairs that need to be done, the machinery needed, the human labour needed, available capacity, as well as weather conditions, since repair work cannot be done under rainy and wet weather conditions,” said Shabalala.

“For example, the process of repairing a burst pipe includes the response team initiating an investigation into the issue, isolating the water supply, waiting for the pipelines to be completely drained of the water, and only then can they begin with excavating the site to expose the damaged pipe.

“Once the site has been excavated, the team proceeds with assessing what kind of material is needed, sourcing the material and then finally repairing the pipe. In some cases, a service provider would be sourced to perform the job.

“Furthermore, in some cases, a welder or some other specialist may be needed to complete the work and may not be available on that specific team. In such cases, that specialist would need to be called in from another depot or team to assist, which further delays the process.

Protracted repairs cause delays

“However, Johannesburg Water is prioritising the repair of water leaks and bursts, including addressing both the existing backlog and newly reported incidents.

“First-line response interventions are also being strengthened to ensure that operational challenges are attended to as quickly as possible.”