Rapid Response Unit to tackle water leaks in Ekurhuleni

The City of Ekurhuleni recently unveiled six rapid response vehicles which it has acquired to curb water losses by speedily attending to burst and leaking pipe complaints in the region.

The bakkies have been fitted with enabling tools and branded “Water Burst Pipe first level response” for identification purposes.

For now, the vehicles have been allocated to five Water and Sanitation Depots that experience the highest number of pipe bursts in their areas, namely Alberton, Benoni, Germiston, Nigel and Tembisa.

Ekurhuleni has nine depots attending to the entire City and each will ultimately have a dedicated Rapid Response Team consisting of two officials responsible for tackling all glitches related to water leaks in their respective areas.

According to Ekurhuleni spokesperson, Themba Gadebe, the purpose of the Rapid Response Teams is to ensure that complaints are attended to within the standard response time of 48 hours.

“The teams are expected to respond quickly and effectively to water leaks in order to reduce the water losses resulting from leaks and prevent contamination of the flowing water,” he said.

“An increase in water loss has been a major challenge within the City for the past few years and this initiative will address this as well as assist to reduce risk of damage to private property and infrastructure.

“As a scarce resource, water is purchased at a price for supply to residents who pay the municipality based on their consumption.

“The loss of water through leakages or burst pipes therefore affects the City’s revenue and increases the demand unnecessarily.”

The City’s Rapid Response Unit is expected to be fully operational by January 2015, where vehicles have already been allocated and in early 2016 for the remaining depots where the supply of dedicated vehicles is still pending.

Residents are therefore encouraged to report incidents to the 24 hour Services Call Centre on 086 054 3000.