Water woes create crisis at old age home

After weeks of struggling to resolve water supply issues at the Ebenhaeser Old Age Home, the facility is now facing more misfortune and is anticipating a hefty water bill, costly plumbing services and other expenses they can ill afford.

“I just want to sit and cry my eyes out,” said the home’s manager, Louise Kok.

Kok has spent the better part of the last month desperately trying to get to the bottom of a problem with the home’s water supply.

Initially thought to be an issue on the municipality’s side, it has since been detected that there is a leak on the Germains Avenue property.

Kok told the Brakpan Herald that the home has been struggling with no pressure and little to no water since Rand Water’s maintenance was conducted at the end of July.

ALSO READ: Don’t miss this empowering Women’s Month event

According to her, the home’s water was not restored along with the rest of the town on July 31 after the 72-hour shutdown.

The home is a non-profit organisation and currently has 22 residents in its care, the oldest of whom is 92 years old.

During this time, the residents could not be properly showered or bathed and it was costing the home a tremendous amount of money purchasing water for drinking and making food. The small amount of water that trickled out the pipes from time to time, was just not enough.

“Our elderly have been washing out of buckets, and my own family has been taking washing (clothing and linen) home to try and help,” said Kok.

“We’ve had to buy bottled water for cooking and drinking. We’ve also had to boil kettles of water to wash dishes, adding to our electricity costs, so everything was adding up.

“We’ve also been worried about damaging the gas geyser in the kitchen because of the low pressure.”

While the home does have a water storage tank, this water was not suitable for consumption.

“The tank also doesn’t have a pump so we needed to use buckets. We used this water to flush toilets,” she said.

Kok first reported the matter to the Ekurhuleni Call Centre on August 1, and several times since. Her frustration grew when the reference numbers received from the municipality were closed.

Kok also reached out to local councillors and a water tanker was briefly provided to the home. She was so determined in her efforts that Kok even threatened to open a criminal case against the municipality for elder abuse and for violating human rights.

When municipal officials did come out to investigate, Kok was told the water supply was strong but there was a pressure problem to the home.

There were no concrete answers until a few days ago. According to CoE spokesperson Zweli Dlamini, a contractor visited the stand twice where they couldn’t find anything wrong at the meter.

ALSO READ: Motorcyclists warned of spike in bike hijackings

A recent test of the pressure yielded the following results:

• At the meter: 2.0 bar
• Inside the yard: 1.0 bar

“Our pressure is 100% sufficient. The consumer has a private leak which looks quite huge and appears to be the cause of the pressure drop and they have now conceded that they are going to source the services of a private plumber to address the issue,” he said.

With regards to reference numbers being closed, Dlamini previously told the Herald that the system allows consumers to log as many calls about the same complaint.

When a reference number is closed, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the complaint is closed/resolved.

“I am fearing the amount of water that this home will be responsible for. I need to install a booster pressure pump with a water supply tank estimated at thousands without installation, and need to install a non-return valve,” said Kok.

“The water that comes from the meter is so weak and does not even get to our kitchen properly.”

Kok finds it suspicious that the home has been struck by water woes following the maintenance when there were no prior issues.

“And it becomes out problem to make sure we have pressure? This does not add up at all,” she said.

“Is this the measure that has been taken for owners to supply pressure themselves and still get exorbitant bills?”

An appeal has been made to businesses and the community to assist the home where possible. Kok may be contacted on 011 744 3535 or 083 390 5166.