Businesses on Van Buuren Road flooded in August 2019 due to low water pressure which the business property owner said the City of Ekurhuleni had been aware of before July 10.
In response to the NEWS’ article titled CoE investigates low water pressure on Van Buuren Road in the August 21 edition, Van Buuren Road building, and business owner Peter Faucitt said the city commented that it had been aware of the water pressure problem since July 10. “My first reference number was from my call logged on June 27.”
Faucitt said due to the length of time, the low pressure problem has continued, and “the inevitable scenario has occurred”.
He said a tap was opened in order to wash a sink full of dirty dishes, and because of the low pressure no water came out and the user could not be sure whether the tap was properly closed.
Faucitt said in the evening when the pressure rose again, the tap began issuing water into a sink full of dishes which partially blocked the sink waste outlet.
“The water then rose above the sink rim, and for twelve hours thousands of litres of water cascaded over the sink and flooded the whole of the top floor in five centimeters of water,” said Faucitt
He said he has now employed “water watch guards” to check all taps in the building before they close up at night.
“This disaster is in addition to the normal day-to-day inconvenience of reminding our clients to take a 10 litre bucket of water into the restrooms with them in order to manually flush toilets,” said Faucitt.
City of Ekurhuleni Comments
The City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) has responded to the flood on a Van Buuren Road business, by stating that the fault lies in the owner and not the low water pressure.
Themba Gadebe, CoE spokesperson said the city is not responsible for the flooding of the building.
“The owner or tenant is responsible, as they should have ensured that all taps were properly closed in the event of water supply being restored,” said Gadebe.
Van Buuren Road building and business owner Peter Faucitt, also stated metro was aware of the low water since June 27 and not July 10.
In response Gadebe said the City referred to the time first written correspondence was entered into.
“The matter might have been reported before as indicated, but it was not mentioned in the enquiry,” said Gadebe.
Gadebe advises residents and businesses affected by the low water pressure to ensure all taps are properly closed to prevent incidents of flooding, should water supply be restored.
“CoE is still investigating the low water pressure situation and has a team working on it full time. We are making progress and are anticipating that the matter will be resolved before the end of August,” said Gadebe.
