By Bongekile Gumede
Residents of Overport and Musgrave have been left without water at various intervals within the space of the last week following several burst water pipes in the areas, which have become a common issue for the community. There were major pipe bursts over the weekend at the corner of Norse Road and Crescent Street as well as on Ridge Road, leaving many residents in the area surrounding these sites without water for over 72 hours.
Ward 31 Councillor, Remona McKenzie, acknowledged the burst pipes and water leaks in the area as well as the intermittent water supply. She said she has requested the department to investigate this.
“Since the floods, the outages have become unbearable. I have been in constant communication with management and officials of eThekwini Water and Sanitation about the constant water outages. The official response, previously, was that it was due to the aqueduct damage from the floods. This would mean reservoirs empty too quickly and don’t fill again and therefore there’s no supply. I am aware of all the issues regarding which areas go off and when,” said Cllr Mckenzie.
She said that another challenge is when water tankers are requested and don’t arrive on time. “I have also been told that a tanker will not come out for one specific street and therefore had to get assistance from private tankers. This is common in many wards as the tankers are being requested at the same time for different wards, which is also a challenge.
“With Norse Road, the pipe was repaired and in the very same spot, there was a recurrence of a burst because of the pressure. A vehicle was stuck in a sinkhole formed by the amount of water that was gushing out onto the road and this is not an isolated issue. The challenge of time frame is caused between the plumber, the official manning the TLB and backfill. This process is manned by three different departments within Water and Sanitation which independently have their own time for coming to the site. This needs to be investigated to determine the delay. Turn around time to repair a burst pipe is ridiculously slow.”
Cllr McKenzie said the infrastructure is very old and the City needs to be proactive in making sure that infrastructure maintenance is done on a regular basis. A resident in View Street said he has had to repair his geyser after it stopped working as a result of these water issues.
“The problem is that these pipes burst all the time and when they get fixed it’s required that the valves are shut and opened. This results in our geysers getting filled with soil particles because of the water pressure. With regard to the major burst on Crescent Street, that burst has not yet been repaired, however, residents have braced themselves for another water cut for the repairs to be done and we do not even know when and how long we will be without water,” said the resident.
Speaking to other residents in the area, the common opinion regarding these water pipe bursts are that they are a result of ailing infrastructure, which the municipality needs to attend to properly by doing regular maintenance and replacing the old damaged pipes completely rather than fixing just one part of the pipe, or the bursts and water outages will continue to be a problem for residents.
Repairs on Norse Road are continuing, however, residents are still without water. Some of the residents cannot even move their vehicles as the road is lifted and trenches have been dug for the repairs to be completed. Other residents have said they felt that the municipality and the contractors are not working smart as only a portion of the pipe was replaced which will result in another burst when the rest of the old pipe gives up.
One resident who spoke to the plumber on site said that the plumber confirmed that he would be able to replace the entire stretch of pipe, however, as a contractor he needs Council to give him the go-ahead. He alleged that the plumber said he was only authorised to replace six metres of the pipe due to budget constraints.
The Springfield Weekly Gazette went to the site on Norse Road on Wednesday morning, 15 June, and found the plumbers busy with repairs. Upon speaking to one of the plumbers, it was established that replacing bits and pieces of the pipe would not be viable as it would not resolve the problem. Desperate residents who have no water were able to fill their buckets from a burst fire hydrant on Crescent Street.
A resident on Crescent Street said that the water has been flowing down the street since Sunday evening and, as a result, the road has been damaged and motorists have been having a problem using this main road as a travel route. The wastage of water is also a concern as thousands of litres of water have been lost due to the delay in repairs and the repeated pipe bursts.
“I think that the municipality needs to rethink the way they determine their budgets. They are penny wise and pound foolish in my opinion, as they are holding back on replacing the old infrastructure or not repairing the broken pipes fully and correctly, but are happily wasting the water which is costing the city millions of Rands. Added to this cost is the cost of having contractors attend to burst pipes on weekends and after hours, which is obviously paid for at double pay for overtime hours. They also need to allow for the cost of providing water tankers to affected residents. All of this adds up. So my question is, why waste money when you can save it by doing the right thing in the first place and sort out the problem at the root by doing the maintenance on these pipes?”
EThekwini Municipality was contacted for comment, however, none was received at the time of going to print.
