Life stops without water

With a drought gripping the country, many Germiston residents have been feeling the effects of little or no water at all.

Many suburbs in the city have been left without water for days on end and residents want answers.

They are also concerned by the fact that it appears that the metro shows no concern about water leaks or the wastage of water in the city.

Wychwood resident Rudy Esterhuizen told the GCN that, with water restrictions being a reality, one would think that the metro would attend to all damaged water pipes and leaks.

“This is not the case,” he said.

“Over the past six weeks I have reported a water leak in Graham Road twice and nothing has been done about it.

“The water has now been running for a couple of months.”

Catryn Meyer took a photo of metro employees filling water tankers on Tuesday, at the corner of Stanhope and Watsonia roads, in Wychwood.

The water was just left spraying from the connection and the employees didn’t do anything to stop it.

“Residents need to adhere to the water restrictions, but it appears municipal workers do not,” she said.

“The amount of water that was running down the street could water a whole road’s gardens.

“When I tried to speak to the workers about it, they swore at me.”

André Kleynhans echoed these sentiments and said that he had reported a burst water pipe on Lower Germiston Road, close to Nasmith Road, in March, this year, but to date it has not been repaired.

“A couple of months ago they simply broke a piece off the pavement in order for the water to flow into a drain,” he said.

Wilma van Niekerk, a resident of Albemarle, told the GCN that she drives through the Germiston CBD every morning.

“In Meyer Street, the metro has dug a hole to fix a water pipe and they have left it like this for the past six months,” she said.

“The water just keeps pouring out and grass is even growing in the hole now.

“At home, we sometimes don’t even have water, but the metro does not put in the effort to fix the pipes.”

Duncan Wilson, a resident of Lambton, said: “We have been experiencing an interrupted water supply since Tuesday, last week, in our area.

“It seems that the water comes on very lightly in the day and that, towards 5pm in the afternoon, it’s switched off completely.

“I’m sure you can imagine that, by now, it has become very stressful and now we have noticed that there is air coming through the pipes, making a terrible noise, but the worst is that the water meter continues to run, so, for almost a week this has been happening with the meter running and, basically, we will be charged for air.”

A Sunnyridge resident wanted to know why her children, grandchildren and herself have no water in the Sunnyridge and Primrose area.

“So much water is wasted by Rand Water and the municipalities and yet we are required to save water,” she said.

Sydney Smith asked the same question and said: “This is the second time in a year that we have had no water.

“We demand proper answers to our questions and want the water supply to Sunnyridge and Primrose restored immediately.

“Ageing infrastructure is not an excuse, because Rand Water should constantly repair and replace where and when necessary.”

Wendy Morgan, chairman of the Primrose CPF, said: “How can the drought be blamed for a water shortage, when the Vaal Dam still has over 50 per cent capacity?

“In previous years there has been only 11 per cent water in the dam and consumers still had water.

“Residents are at risk standing in long queues, in the dark, waiting to get water after a hard day at work.

“Criminals are waiting for someone to let down their guard; who is protecting them?

“Once again, the community themselves, who have volunteer CPF patrollers keeping an eye out.”

She added that there are many pensioners living in the area who cannot fetch water from the tanks – what should they do?

“Why should we, as a community, have to accept this kind of service for water or lack of water?” Morgan asked.

“Someone needs to take charge and solve the problem, not put in place temporary measures and never fix the problem properly.”

Emily Venter, who lives in School Avenue, Sunnyridge, told the GCN that they have not had a drop of water since November 9.

“It is still off. We are the closest to the reservoir, but no water,” she said.

“There are a number of elderly people in our area and some of them are too old to collect water from the tankers.”

Another resident who stays in Albemarle told the GCN that they are getting no clarity from the metro.

“We are just given various answers, like there is a power failure, or pipes are broken, or the reservoir is leaking, or Rand Water is not supplying or maintenance is being done,” he said.

“So many answers that really don’t say much about what’s happening, yet other areas don’t have any water disruptions at all.

“This is a huge problem, with no water for over a week, so children can’t bath before going to school, we can’t flush our toilets and this is becoming a health risk.”

Marlene Tucker, from Fishers’ Hill, told the GCN that water pressure in her area had been very low and then the water eventually stopped.

“My daughter, who lives 1km away, has had no water interruptions,” she added.

“How do they call this water sharing, when one neighbourhood is off for 12 hours and others are not affected?”

“Why is it that it is always Germiston that has these problems?

“This is really frustrating in these hot conditions and we can’t even take a two minute shower before heading off to work in the mornings.”

Some of the related water articles:

Water will still be provided to areas without water supply

Metro responds to water shortage