Resident, Andy Thomas had a full day water outage that he said affected residents from Craigavon to Paulshof.
He said, “Calls to Joburg water went unanswered except for a voicemail announcement. This incident was reported as being ‘an emergency outage’. They said the water service would be restored by 4pm. It was not restored until 8.15pm.
“This is the second incident in three months. The incident three months earlier resulted in another full day outage as a water main on Inchanga Road had to be repaired.”
Another Fourways resident, Johan Fourie experienced a similar situation.
He went three days without water after a pipe burst on Uranium Road in Witkoppen extension 3.
Fourie said, “It took Joburg water hours to turn off the burst pipe. This resulted in the flooding of many houses and properties on Uranium
Road. The Joburg Water call centre was pathetic and only said it was being attended to. Three days without water is not fun.”
Thomas was concerned that the frequency of water outages in the Fourways area might be a sign of things to come.
“The infrastructure has not been maintained and now we are suffering catastrophic water pipe failure,” he said.
Addressing the water outage in Witkoppen Extension 3, Johannesburg Water spokesperson, Millicent Kabwe said, “We did have a pipe burst at the corner of Uranium Road and William Nicol Drive. Witkoppen extension 3, 6 and 9 were affected for a few hours. Once the water was switched off for repairs, tanks were placed at sites in the area for temporary supply of water. These sites included Witkoppen clinic and Witkoppen Primary School. Around 11pm the pipe was repaired and water charged into the system. Residents started getting water from that point.”
Kabwe added, “With emergency shutdowns we sometimes encounter problems while repairing the pipe and hence the delay of an hour or so in restoring water. “Residents can either call the call centre or email their queries to customerserviceemails@jwater.co.za
“All planned water interruptions are available on our website and residents can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook for such postings and regular updates of any outages.”
