I am a resident in Boat Lake Village, in Rynfield, an area in which the Ekurhuleni water department seems to have little interest.
Over the past two to three years we have had numerous water leaks, which take three to four weeks to get attended to.
The latest, however, is the worst, with little to no interest from the municipality to rectify the embarrassing situation.
Numerous residents have reported a leak on the corner of Long Tom and Du Toit streets over at least the past 10 to 12 weeks.
Apparently workers came out about four to six weeks ago (this after our chairperson went to their offices and brought them here as they do not respond to emails and calls by doing anything), dug up the road and found the leak.
They then said they needed tools to repair the leak, left and have never returned.
It has now got to the stage where the road is collapsing (further taxpayers’ money wasted that could have been avoided) and two more leaks have sprung up.
While we appreciate their great PR work of sending SMSes to our phones to report water leaks, electricity theft, etc., it makes a mockery of it that when it is reported nothing happens.
The latest is an SMS sent a few weeks ago, referring to high water demand, urging residents to fix leaking taps and report any burst water pipe to 0860 543 000 – but they can’t fix a leak within three months.
This is just PR, as they seemingly have no will or motivation to get things done.
Perhaps you should come and see for yourself, as it could bring about some action.
This is a last resort as the road is now going to have to be repaired at more cost to the taxpayer and this will likely take months as well.
Water is being wasted at an alarming rate and being a good citizen by reporting it does not get any response.
Editor’s Note: The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) was approached for comment but none had been received at the time of going to print.
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