A local, Michael Blanchard’s concerns about the culture of longstanding and dangerous Johannesburg Water excavations continue to grow after he alerted the publication on March 8, about an exposed and waterfilled excavation on the corner of Jan Smuts and Rothesay avenues in Craighall Park.
Blanchard explained that a few weeks ago, he reported a water leak that emanated from the pavement on Jan Smuts Avenue, “I received a rapid response with a reference number, and the problem was attended to on March 7. Johannesburg Water dug up the whole area on the pavement and left a large 10-foot-deep trench, which has been filling with water over the last few hours.”
He added the real danger was that there was no warning barrier around the dug-up pavement despite the dug-up kerb.
Johannesburg Water’s spokesperson, Nombuso Shabalala said there was a pipe leak that the team attended to on March 8.
“The team had to excavate the concrete or road to find where the leak was coming from. When they didn’t find it, they moved across the road and excavated. That is where they managed to locate the leak.”
Shabalala added that the leak was repaired and the job cards for the backfilling have been created.
She highlighted that because the leak was situated beneath a stormwater drain, the stormwater drain was damaged during repairs.
The job for repairs was booked with the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) to repair the stormwater drain. The repairs are expected to be completed by the JRA, then the reinstatements will be booked through to the JRA.
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