Year-long Kew water leak only officially looked at in June
A burst pipe on 5th Road in Kew, wasted water for over a year, but Johannesburg Water says it was only alerted to the leak last month.
A gaping hole, and the scars of a long-running water leak, remain on 5th Road in Kew, even though Johannesburg Water (JW) says it only received an official report about the issue on June 26, over a year after the leak began.
According to Ward 81 councillor Joanne Horowitz, the leak persisted, undetected for months under overgrown vegetation, wasting thousands of litres of water and creating a serious road hazard. “This was not just a drip; it was streaming out water. A community leader finally raised the alarm, and I escalated it to the regional director, but it still took four more days to shut off the valve.”
JW spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala confirmed that the leak was logged on June 26, and repaired by June 30. “Horowitz alerted the depot manager about the leak on June 27. Backfilling has since been completed, and a request has been sent to Johannesburg Roads Agency to fix the road surface.”
Also read: Johannesburg Roads Agency completes repairs on 10th Road in Kew
The timeline has sparked frustration in the community, where residents say the leak had been visible and ignored for far longer. “How could it have been leaking this long without anyone at JW noticing? The water was flowing right down the street,” said a resident who asked to be kept anonymous.
Shabalala stressed the importance of logging calls. “If a job is not on the system, JW will not be aware of it. That’s why we urge customers to report service issues. It’s the only way a job card can be created and assigned to a team.”
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