The past week has seen residents of Phoenix severely affected by water outages lasting over several days while some areas experienced decreased water pressure.
Ward 49 Councillor Tino Pillay said several areas of his ward were affected by the water cuts including Sunford, Rydalvale, Longcroft, Eastbury, Starwoood and parts of Northcroft. He said: “The past week has been a nightmare for the residents as the water cuts were unprecedented and the frustration leveles increase by the non responsiveness of department officials.” Pillay said when he called to enquire, the officials did not even take the calls which resulted in further frustration from residents as updates from councillors were not forthcoming.
He said Reservoir 2 which is in the heart of Phoenix has been struggling to build capacity to service the effected areas. “Answers were eventually given but they were not to my satisfaction. It’s impossible for the water tankers to service every road that is affected and as a result some roads are forced to do without. I have now drafted a letter of questions to the Full Council which will be held at the end of this month to deliberate and take immediate remedial action. If these questions are denied to be heard in Full Council, I will ensure we get satisfactory answers,” said Pillay. “I empathise with all the residents who were majorly affected by the water crisis, ranging from elderly pensioners to infants who needed their water for bottled milk and I want to inform the residents of Ward 49 that I am doing the best I can with the limited resources at my disposal from the municipality,” he added.
Sunford resident, Loretta Sewpersad said it was extremely difficult to go about her daily routine due to the water cuts. “I have a newborn baby and it was difficult to get water to make her milk bottle. We previously had water stored, however it was finished within two days of usage, there was also no water available to purchase as many residents were without water and resorted to purchasing drinking water. This is absolutely frustrating as our water bills are always exorbitant at the end of the month, yet we are not even getting proper essential services. If it’s not water, it’s electricity, we are paying our rates and deserve better services. This is unacceptable,” said Sewpersad. Meanwhile, private water tankers had to come to the aid of Brookdale residents after DLC Ward Committee member, Shuaib Mahomed, reached out to the owner of Ali Sands. The Brookdale community was without water for two full days at the weekend.
Brookdale resident, Mr Munsamy said they were not given notice about the water cut and were fortunate to have received help from a privately sourced water tanker. “We were extremely worried about where we were going to get water from as no tankers were coming out to us. There was information received from the councillors regarding the water tankers. We are extremely thankful to Mr Mahomed and those involved in assisting us with water when we needed it,” said Munsamy. Mahomed, who is also the chairperson of the KGN Feeding Foundation, said he liaised with the owner of Ali Sands who agreed to share his private water tanker with the Brookdale community. “The past weekend saw many residents left without water. Outcry and pleas from Brookdale residents for water tankers went in vain. Many members of the community were at their wits end and felt abandoned by their ward councillors as there was not enough water tankers provided to them.” The ward councillor for the area, Maggie Johnson said according to reports from management, there was a mechanical problem. She said: “The inlet control malfunctioned preventing filling up. The problem was sorted out on 4 October. As we are still getting limited water, Umgeni Water nightly shut offs will continue.”
