Water woes for Umbilo flat dwellers

TENSIONS ran high at Flamingo Court flats in Umbilo on Tuesday morning after the city’s water department returned to the block of flats to disconnect the water supply.

According to resident Roy Pillay, the municipality cut the water supply to the block of flats last Wednesday and returned again this week but enraged residents chased municipal workers away.

“The water was previously cut off from 1pm on Wednesday afternoon until 6pm the following day,” he said.

Pillay said he understood Flamingo Court owed the city R7 million in arrears for water services, but did not believe that all flat dwellers should be penalised because many residents paid their levies which included their water charges.

“Last week I phoned to ask if they could send us a water tanker and someone from the water department told me to pay our bill first.”

Residents told Berea Mail that in 2002 when they signed the deeds to their flats, they were promised separate water metres so that they could be individually billed.

“We know there is a serious problem, but we can’t be penalised because only some people pay. We can live without electricity but not water,” residents said.

Ward councillor, Nicole Graham, who tried to assist the residents with a water tanker last week, visited residents on Tuesday morning to reassure them.

“There seems to be a communication problem between the different sections of the water department because the water tanker only arrived when the water department came to reconnect supply last week,” she said.

On Monday, after communication between legal representatives of the curator of Flamingo Court and the Municipality, a court interdict was obtained at the High Court to stop the disconnection of the water supply and to install a standpipe in the event that the water supply is cut.

“However, despite this, staff from the Water Department arrived on Tuesday morning to disconnect the supply,” she said, adding that she would continue to monitor the situation.