On Friday, September 26 Mr Theo van Vuuren, Emalahleni Administrator, was informed by the Department of Water Affairs that they have postponed the shutdown on the pipeline to Ga-Nala with three weeks.
“No explanation was provided why the shutdown was postponed, therefore there should be no interruption in water supply as announced,” said Van Vuuren.
The shutdown was supposed to take place from September 29 to October 17. Ga-Nala Water Purification Plant is getting water from Water Affairs’ uSuthu scheme via Jericho Dam.
“We will however keep our emergency arrangements in place as backup till we get clarity on why this happened. Our apology for the inconvenience this change in plans by the Department of Water Affairs will cause,” said Van Vuuren.
Last week Emalahleni Council worked out a contingency plan for the 18-day water shutdown which should be in operation after the three weeks.
In terms of this obligation, the following measures are in place as contingency plans for the planned outages:
*40 temporary Jo-jo tanks (5 000 litres) will be placed at strategic positions in the affected area for residents to tap water from. These will be serviced by municipal mobile tankers on a daily basis.
*Directorate Public Safety will patrol the area during the shutdown period.
*20 by 20 000-litre mobile water tankers will be used to serve the area and temporary tanks on a daily basis.
*Two mega-litres of water is required per day as per free basic water supply (25 litres per person per day on an average of six per house hold at 10 2074 households as per Stats SA).
*Water will be supplied from KwaGuqa and Transport Department.
*Water quality will be monitored (Chlorine boost).
*The cost of this operation for the period will be R1.5-million.
*The water tanks will be re used in areas where needed afterwards.
*Area location number of water tanks required:
Thubelihle Scopper (three), Thubelihle White City (three), Thubelihle Dark City (three), Thubelihle Extension 4 (three), Thubelihle Extension 5 (three), Kriel Old Age Home (two), Kriel Shopping Complex (two), Kriel Civic Centre (one), Kriel Police Station (three), Kriel Extension 9 and 10 (three), Kriel Extension 7 and 8 (three), Kriel Extension 12,13 and 14 (four), Kriel Extension 1 and 5 (three) and Kriel Extensions 2 and 3 (three).
Water will be distributed in two shifts and two loads per shift.
