The municipality confirmed this week that it is currently busy with a new initiative
to sort out the water supply problems related to the sinkhole that recently damaged municipal infrastructure.
It is estimated that almost 24 000 residents in Khutsong extensions 4 and 5 and Welverdiend have been stuck without running water since 31 July.
This was when the water pipe feeding these areas was damaged by a sinkhole next to the municipal reservoir near Doornfontein.
Since then, these residents have had to rely on water supplied by municipal trucks.
The Herald heard on Friday, however, that plans to reroute the water supply line to these areas had been implemented.
Once this has been completed, residents in the affected areas will have water
coming from their taps again. On Tuesday, the municipality confirmed this information but could not say when the water supply to the affected areas would be restored.
“The municipality is currently in the process of building a bypass line. Once completed, pipe testing will be done and, thereafter, the piped water supply
will be commissioned,” a municipal spokesperson indicated.
Meanwhile, Mr Eric Stoch, a concerned landowner from the area who is currently busy with his Masters degree at the African Centre for Disaster Studies at the North-West University in Potchefstroom, says he has been talking to authorities in various spheres of government to have the dolomitic areas of Merafong declared
as a disaster area following the recent sinkhole problems, among others.
According to Stoch, the drive aims to access special national government funding which would not only assist in repairing the current damage to infrastructure
caused by ground instability and sinkholes, it would also enable the municipality to replace old infrastructure.
The initiative includes getting the Far West Rand Dolomitic Water Association
to resume the levelling of roads and properties as this is an early warning mechanism for further possible sinkholes.
“It is a disaster when thousands of people are suddenly left without water. The drive to have Merafong declared as a disaster area should be seen as an initiative to improve the management of the unique problems that this area is struggling with.
These problems have a huge socioeconomic impact on the region,” Stoch told the Herald on Tuesday.
