Johannesburg Water to start backfilling an exposed pipe and hole on Louis Botha Avenue and Houghton Drive

Johannesburg Water confirmed that it will backfill and insert valve boxes in a deep, exposed excavation by August 13 on Louis Botha Avenue and Houghton Drive.

A resident, Joy Kanter reached out to the Gazette on August 2 about the exposed and hazardous excavation.

“On Friday nights I go to a movie group near the Sacred Heart College. On my way, I pass the Houghton Hotel and then turn right at the intersection of Houghton Drive and Louis Botha Avenue. At that point is an extremely dangerous road which is filled with debris that is all over the place and a large hole with water in it.”

Johannesburg Water’s external communications officer, Nolwazi Dhlamini noted that the excavation was due to a burst pipe, and the Johannesburg Water team needed to expose the pipe in order to conduct the repairs which were soon made.

She added, “We had another challenge where there was an old pipe discharging water into the open excavated hole, and we had to conduct a leak detection test to get to the root of the seepage. The seepage was located further upstream and has since been repaired.”

Kanter said there is also a horizontal pothole that is wrecking cars, and this has been the situation for weeks, if not months.

Dhlamini stated that the Johannesburg Water team is monitoring the open excavation to ensure that there is no water discharging into the open excavation before the backfilling process begins.

“The backfilling will be done by August 13, as we will be starting with installing valve boxes tomorrow, August 9.”

Responding to a question about when the horizontal pothole would be fixed, the external communications officer said Johannesburg Water was only aware of the concrete reinstatement which is on the island where there is an open excavation.

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