Some residents in Pennington have had a dreadful time with no water of late.
These are their stories and experiences.
Coral Drive resident: “Besides not having drinking water, the worst issue from a health perspective was not being able to flush the loo. Buckets were filled from the pool to pour into the toilet cistern to flush once a day. We have blocked toilets due to too much toilet paper collecting in the loo which I had to rod to get it down the sewerage pipe. Another health issue was being unable to shower or wash hands as required by Covid-19 protocols.”
ALSO READ : Tuning In: Byron pops the question…
Impathle Drive resident: “We have our business on the corner of Impathle and Coral Road. It is a manufacturing company that employs more than 40 women. Not having water was a serious (and costly) crisis for us. On the Friday we ran off our tank but unfortunately with the number of women a tank of 5000 litres only lasts one day.
However, I must give credit to certain Ugu employees who, after being sent from the Park Rynie office to Port Shepstone and back and then back to Port Shepstone, helped organise a trickle of water and to some extent, helped save the day.
We have already got a plumber to connect the tank to the mains so it will keep it full and we will be getting another tank. This is definitely not going to be the last of these water issues. On a personal note, I have lived in Beefwood Road for 20 years and over the past 10 years was so inconvenienced over the lack of water, especially during busy periods. We eventually sold and moved because of that. Happy to be at Abrams Crest where they have a back-up for these times.”
Gumtree Road resident: “My parents, aged 93 and 80, live in a flat on my property. Thank goodness I was home during the water outage as this experience has made me think of all the other elderly folks living in Pennington, which we all know has a large community of retired people. My father cannot be left at home alone – he requires 24 hour care, so my mother is unable to go and fetch water. You would have to have enough containers to fill and carry these when you get home. For old people, a 5l container is heavy. You would have to have enough containers. Who has 10 or more containers available when you did not realise there will be a water problem?
Natalie Danks, Roberts Road: “The leak outside our house has been going on for almost a year when they first dug a 3m hole in our driveway. In June last year when they came to attend a burst pipe at 40 Robert Road they replaced a small section of the pipe as a temporary fix and promised to be back to repair properly. After two months of constant complaining about the huge hole they left behind, we filled in the hole as it was a danger to pedestrians and drivers. The pipe has been slowly leaking ever since. Three weeks ago it started leaking badly and we reported it again, only to be told it wasn’t serious. On June 13 it started pouring out and again we reported it. I received a message saying my fault was resolved. On June 19 it broke completely and for two days has been running down the road like a river. As of June 21, the temporary pipe has still not been replaced although the water leak has slowed due to repairs in Lynda Place up the road which seems to have relieved the pressure on our pipe. Our water pressure is non-existent.”
Scottburgh resident: “A tap at GJ Crookes Hospital has been running for over a year. I have reported it six times in all and that includes twice to the maintenance department.”
Ugu District Municipality response:“Ugu is aware of the recent intermittent water supply issues at Umzinto and Pennington areas. These were due to a major pipe burst but have since been repaired by our teams. The municipality had also made provision through emergency tankers as relief to the affected areas. We would also like to apologise to those who were affected by this.” – France Zama, Ugu District Municipality.
Councillor Eddie Baptie said most of the network had since been restored, but that there may have been new ruptures in places or areas that have not been restored. He urged residents to report the location of leaks by SMS to 44751. “It is important that we all report every leak as soon as possible so that Ugu’s management and political leadership get a clear picture of the scale of the problem with the old infrastructure, and the immediate need for more resources to deal with the frequent failures,” he said.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like the South Coast Herald’s Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram
