The City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) confirmed that a fire hydrant along Milford Avenue was opened by members of its water and sanitation department to scour water from a pipeline.
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Dowerglen resident Julia Huntington recently raised concerns over municipal employees allegedly wasting water while repairing infrastructure in Dowerglen.
Her concerns, highlighted in the February 9 edition of the NEWS, described how a fire hydrant was opened on January 31 and water was allowed to run out of it for two hours while municipal infrastructure was repaired.
CoE spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said a maintenance team was initially on site to repair a burst water pipe at 50 Milford Avenue.
He said the team opened a fire hydrant to scour water from the pipeline.
“One of the valves needed to isolate the pipe, to repair it, had been covered by contractors that installed fibre cables in the area,” said Dlamini.
“The department will search for this valve as part of its preventative maintenance plan.”
Highlighting her concerns, Huntington said the opening of the fire hydrant wastes water.
After researching the flow rate of fire hydrants, Huntington discovered that hydrants operate between 1 892 and 9 463 litres per minute.
Using the lowest amount but rounding it up to 2 000 litres per minute, Huntington estimated that 240 000 litres were wasted.
In its response, CoE was unable to give an exact flow rate for the fire hydrants in the Dowerglen area.
“We estimate the flow rate to be near 15 litres per second,” said Dlamini.
Based on the city’s estimation, it can be calculated that an estimated amount of 108 000 litres of water may have been wasted on the day of the repairs.
Besides Huntington’s concerns of water being wasted when she spoke to the NEWS, she highlighted a blocked drain a short distance from her home.
Dlamini said the blocked drain will be investigated and urgently resolved.
“Blockages are normally caused by foreign objects that are discharged into the infrastructure,” he said.
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