Koi 4 Life, a fish farm owned by Renier and Sanet du Toit, suffered a direct loss equal to more than R28 000 when the lack of fresh water left their stock high and dry.
Since late February, the utility was interchangeably on and off for three weeks while repairs were effected to main supply pipes in Van Ryn Small Holdings.
“It was a very stressful time for us; this isn’t a household where a water supply cut means you can’t drink or shower. Our entire business depends on it,” the du Toits said.
“You lose up to 10 per cent of carp due to natural causes, but this was 50 per cent.”
They explained the indirect impact of the water shortage was much larger, as it deprived them of up to several hundred thousand Rand in potential gross earnings for next year.
“Luckily the koi are okay, but that’s because we prioritised them with the little water we did get in.”
Neighbours helped the business with borehole water, for which the du Toits were very grateful.
They started the business with koi fish a year ago and this was their first batch of carp. “We only had them for a month and a half,” Sanet said.
“That shortage of water affects the fish for a month or two afterwards. We still have fish dying every day,” she said on March 18.
“They are constantly dying, and the remaining carp eat the dead ones, messing up the diet of the living carp.
“Now we can only buy new carp after winter.”
The pair feel the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) has let them down. They say the death of their carp could have been prevented had they known of the supply cuts beforehand.
“Their service has to sharpen up,” said the pair.
“Now there’s going to be more drama, with the planned pipe replacement, because the water will have to be cut again.
“The thing is, I can understand if there’s a sudden pipe burst or something, but they didn’t inform us of anything, such as the repairs or a planned cut to replace the pipe,” Renier said.
The business owners have a contingency plan in place now. “We’re having a borehole put in. We just hope it will be finished before the upcoming pipe replacement.”
“Before the water cuts, we had about 24 000 fish here that needed fresh water, so we constantly had to test the waters and keep it clean,” they said.
“There are about 190-kilolitres of artificial fish ponds here, which need around 45-kilolitres of fresh water every week.
“During the water cuts, we contacted the call centre and asked for 15 000-litres in tankers; they seemed to agree, but the tanker never came.”
Renier said he visited the site of the pipe repair, on Fifth Road, Van Ryn Small Holdings, while the water supply was off. “There was no work being done on it.”
“We pay for the water, so we expect to get it.
“Despite this large loss, we remain hopeful the relevant authority figures will make the correct decisions to prevent things like this from happening in the future.”
EMM was approached for comment, but none had been received at the time of publication.
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