Parkmore storm water woes continue as residents await Johannesburg Roads Agency repairs
More than a month after inspections and repair work began, water continues flowing through the damaged storm water drain along Victoria Avenue and 4th Street.
Ward 90 councillor Renate van Onselen has renewed calls for urgent intervention at the corner of Victoria Avenue and 4th Street in Parkmore, where persistent underground water seepage continues to damage roads and storm water infrastructure, despite recent repair efforts by Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA).
Van Onselen recently revisited the site to assess progress after JRA began repair work following investigations into the ongoing storm water drain failures affecting 4th Street, 5th Street, and Victoria Avenue.
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The repair work comes after Johannesburg Water (JW) confirmed, shortly after the joint inspection between the two entities, that water flowing through the affected storm water drains originates from a borehole, and not from municipal pipelines.
Standing near the damaged section of road during her inspection, Van Onselen said the problem remains clearly visible. “We were here a little bit more than a month ago, after we had an inspection with JRA and JW regarding the storm water problem. You can hear the water as the car drove over it.”
According to Van Onselen, JRA teams carried out work further up along the affected route, near the corner of 5th Street and Victoria Avenue, where water is believed to be flowing downhill toward 4th Street.
“Since then, JRA has been here to do the repair work. They did do some work upstream, on the corner of 5th Street and Victoria Avenue. I’m calling it upstream because this is a steady stream of water that’s running down.
“I don’t know exactly what they did there, but it doesn’t seem to have had any positive effect on the existing problem that you see here on the corner of 4th Street and Victoria Avenue. A month later, they’ve not been back.
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“I want to appeal to JRA to now come and address what we regarded as the biggest issue. I have been in touch with the roads agency, and they do say that they will get around to it, but heaven knows when that is going to be.”
Responding to the concerns raised by the councillor, JRA said the teams are currently undertaking extensive reinstatement repairs on Jan Smuts Avenue and Rothesay Avenue in Craighall and will thereafter attend to Victoria Avenue and 4th and 5th Streets in June 2026.
“As indicated in our previous response the scope of work in Parkmore involves further assessments into the existing storm water systems and addressing the underground water seepage issues.
JRA will provide an exact ETR once the work commences in Parkmore.”
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