In a bid to increase response times to water leakages across the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM), the council is forming a Rapid Response Unit.
The unit has been provided with six single cab bakkies, fitted with tools to complete the task.
The vehicles can be spotted across the city, bearing the words, ‘Water burst pipe first level response’.
For now, the vehicles have been allocated to five water and sanitation depots, which experience a high number of burst pipes, including Alberton, Benoni, Germiston, Nigel and Tembisa.
Eventually, the EMM plans to allocate dedicated Rapid Response Teams, consisting of two officials responsible for tackling all glitches related to water leaks in their respective areas.
According to the EMM’s spokesperson, Mr Themba Gadebe, the Rapid Response Team should be able to attend to queries within 48 hours.
“An increase in water loss has been a major challenge within the EMM for the past few years and this initiative will address this as well as assist with reducing risk of damage to private property and infrastructure. As a scarce resource, water is purchased at a price for supply to residents who pay the municipality based on their consumption. The loss of water through leakages or burst pipes therefore affects the EMM’s revenue and increases the demand unnecessarily,” said Mr Gadebe.
The EMM’s Rapid Response Unit is expected to be fully operational by January 2015, with some depots already having vehicles allocated. Early in 2016 will see the remaining depots receiving dedicated vehicles.
Residents are encouraged to file queries via a 24- hour service call centre on 086 054 3000.
