Water everywhere, but hardly a drop to drink
The leak has been there so long, said on businessman,, that the water has worn trenches at the roadside and damaged the road surface.
While swathes of the South Coast have been struggling without water for a number of weeks, one Marburg businessman says he has been struggling to get Ugu to repair a water leak for the past six years.
Leroy Gibson said water was gushing unchecked onto the gravel roadside near Nobamba High in Bhobhoyi and despite many, many calls to Ugu, the problem remained and the wastage continued.
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The leak had been there so long, Mr Gibson said, that the water had worn trenches at the roadside and damaged the road surface.
Desperate members of the community had been seen collecting this water which is believed to be coming from the St Helen Rock reservoir.
“This is water wastage and Ugu does not care. Staff just get their salaries every month for nothing. Imagine how many litres of water have been wasted over the past six years.
“Many areas have no running water. My employee who lives in Gamalakhe had to fetch water from my property and transport alone cost her R400,” said Mr Gibson.
He believes the leak is caused by by broken water pipes which have not been repaired in years,
“Water is pumped, chlorine and other chemicals are added to purify it – you can see this is clean water – but instead of it reaching those who need it, it’s just being wasted.”
Ugu spokesman France Zama said water loss as a result of leaks in the water network remained a fundamental challenge.
“This can be attributed to the ageing water infrastructure which is continually breaking due to high water demand and also due to illegal connections. The municipality conducts repairs and maintenance of the water infrastructure on a daily basis while also ensuring that water supply is being maintained.”
Mr Zama added that potable water was delivered by water tankers as a relief measure in areas where supply interruption had occurred and where there was no reticulation infrastructure.
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