DEAR Editor,-
At 8pm last Wednesday night (10th), there was no water at our complex, Milkwood Mews on 22 Gall Road in Southport. I went outside to the meter to confirm that it had not been switched off.
About two weeks ago, a back-hoe cleaning the drains nicked a water pipe near the corner of Bendigo and Gall Roads and subsequently a very poor repair job was done. When I checked last night, I saw that the pipe had now burst. The water was coming out at approximately five litres per second. I bent the pipe to stop the flow and wastage.
I phoned Ugu, got a reference number and was told that the workers were in Marburg, but they would be there in about two hours. By 8.30am on the Thursday morning there was still no response and we still had no water. By that time I had phoned Ugu twice, contacted Tap Kruger and eventually phoned DD Naidoo. I estimate that we saved about 200 000 litres of water from being wasted by then, but I had been told that it was ‘on private property’! It is not. And they had not even been to visit the site!
Only when I threatened to go to the press and undo the blockage I had created to allow the reservoir to drain did I get a message to say someone was on their way.
The lack of concern in a water crisis situation is absolutely shocking! Municipalities ask residents to use the ‘correct channels’ and not go to the press, but when you use the ‘correct channels’, you are told the problem is located on private property! If the ‘correct channels’ worked, we wouldn’t need to go to the press. Why do I have to go to these lengths to get them to come and investigate?
JOHN
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