Ongoing Woodlands water woes need permanent fix

EDITOR – I have lived in Radcliffe Road, Woodlands for over 30 years and have now reached the end of my tether.

While the government pleads with people to save water and some have and face restrictions, the road continually has underground pipe bursts, especially the section between 64 and 68 on both sides, which unless we call the water department (I have references going back a few years), all that is being done is a crew will come out sometimes at 10pm or later to pump out the water, fit a special joiner, then cover the hole and the tar guys come and tar.

In some cases the repair lasts a day and sometime weeks but the fact of the matter is if you consider the number of times these repairs have been carried out, a new pipe could have been fitted.

I saw the manager at the south depot and even gave him a piece of the non-SABS pipe taken out from the areas and was told the initial contract to renew the old galvanised pipes was signed off by a private person as the municipality did not have the staff, so all they can do is repair the pipes.

Unfortunately I don’t have anything in writing but a sample pipe taken from there will prove my point. The staff who repair the leaks will vouch for that.

The last leak, at number 66, has been running for two days and the crew have just arrived to again repair the pipe which will be closed up and tarred to simply wait for the next leak to spew more water down the road until someone calls the call centre to come and repair the pipe yet again.

Can somebody please sort out this problem once and for all, so we stop useless expenditure and wastage of water?