Residents are all fed-up with water crisis in town

The water supply in Vaalwater has been problematic for weeks, with residents at their wits’ end during this week’s heat wave.

Some households went without water for several days.

Though the increased load shedding contributes to the problem, repair work to two steel reservoirs and boreholes that aren’t functioning, are the main culprits.

Residents of the small town complained vehemently about service delivery on social media this week, stating that this problem has been a regular occurrence over the years. The town mainly relies on its nine boreholes for its water supply.

According to Aphiwe Mananga, Acting Director of Technical Services at the Modimolle-Mookgophong Municipality, they had difficulty repairing the reservoirs.

“We thought the repair job would be a matter of a day or two, but it is taking much longer than we anticipated. The service provider is currently completing the project and should be done before the end of the week,” he said. “The other issue has been a pipeline linking two of the new high-yield boreholes. We ordered the pipe about six weeks ago and it finally arrived this week. Our teams are busy connecting it. We expect the situation to improve vastly from next week.”

Neels Pretorius, a VF Plus councilor, said the new pipe is being installed at the bridge at Groenfontein. He, together with other councilors and officials, accompanied Mayor Sechele Sebolai on an oversight visit to the town on Monday 27 November.

Pretorius said only five of the nine boreholes are currently in working order.

“Borehole number 8 and 3 are the strongest, but cannot supply water due to an electrical problem. This exacerbates the supply shortage because the two steel reservoirs are also being repaired,” he explained. “The leaking reservoirs were repaired in January but started leaking again three months later. It was repaired but in September it started leaking again and once more the reservoirs were taken out of the supply chain for repair work.”
Resident Elizabeth Jansen van Vuuren was upset about the water shortage. “Our town has so many elderly residents who cannot just get into a vehicle to go and buy water. What must they do in this heat? If the municipality warns us ahead of time, all of us can prepare beforehand,” she said.

The municipality has made use of water tankers to supply water to residents.

• Mananga, said that although the town of Modimolle needs 18 megalitres per day, it only has a supply of approximately 8 megalitres. “The current supply is less than the actual requirement, hence we are trying to use water rationing and use the ‘some for all’ approach,” he said. “Magalies Water has not been meeting its full quota due to loadshedding, which also affects our supply from Donkerpoort dam. We are doing urgent repairs at the plant to ensure that the standby generator is installed, before we close for the festive season.”