byline: Leigh Hodgson
The Germiston City News has been inundated with calls from furious Germiston residents, many of whom have been without water since Tuesday, September 1.
“No one at the call centre can say exactly what the problem is or when it will be fixed,” said Charlene Jurkiewicz, from Albemarle.
“We have not one drop of water in our taps and no one can tell me when or where I can find the emergency tankers for water.
“We are living like animals, not being able to wash or cook; this is getting ridiculous.”.
Leon de Beer said: “It is now becoming ridiculous; no water for extended periods of time, yet the metro is obliged to supply water to their consumers.
“This, apparently, has become a secondary issue, yet they have the audacity to cut the services to consumers who fail to pay on time for a service that is not rendered.”
Samantha Dorman also shared her frustrations, saying: “I have been without water since Tuesday, last week, and I still have no water.
“Sad to think, as much as people complain, at the end of the day nothing will be done. The question is: why do we pay rates and taxes?”
Some residents have reported that the water supply returns at night, but will be gone again by morning.
However, this water is often dirty and undrinkable.
Martie Venter, from Elsburg, asked: “How do we know what the real problem is if they don’t give us answers?
“I have a three-week-old baby to care for and don’t know how I am meant to cope.”
Suzanne Petrie, from Albemarle, said: “Why can they not SMS customers to tell them about the water issues, when they are able to SMS about payments that are due?”
After numerous emails and calls to the metro it was established that the problem is being caused by a leak at the Primrose Reservoir.
“The priority at this stage is ensuring that residents have a stable water supply, hence efforts have been focused on implementing an interim solution by way of by-passing the supply from that reservoir,” explained Themba Gadebe, spokesman for the metro.
The metro said that all areas should have had a stable water supply by Friday morning.
“Work to by-pass the reservoir was completed on Thursday and supply has been restored,” said Gadebe.
“All areas should have water, although the pressure is still low.
“This is expected to normalise by Friday morning, due to the current high demand.”
Once again residents who have no water are requested to report the complaint to the metro’s call taking centre.
“Customers should have water at this stage, so any outage should be reported,” Gadebe said.
“Residents are also encouraged to report water leaks, as these will also have an impact on water supply; teams are currently attending to two leaks reported in Lambton.”
The metro insists that Germiston is not experiencing a water crisis similar to that of last year.
Roving water tankers were and continue to be supplied to areas where it is reported that there is no water.
These areas include Elsburg and Albemarle.
The tankers are allegedly stationed at old age homes and schools in the areas.
The DA’s Clr Chris Swanepoel, however, said that the water had not been restored to Lambton by Friday morning.
“I have had calls this morning,” Swanepoel told a GCN journalist on Friday.
“The situation is unacceptable and is a serious health risk.
“The DA MPL for Germiston, Paul Willemburg, has taken the matter to the MMC.”
Lambton residents have thanked Swanepoel for his efforts during the water outage.
“The Epworth Children’s Village had a serious shortage of water for two days.
“Having 75 children resident in six houses, this could have been a disaster with backed-up toilets and no water to use for cooking or washing, but Swanepoel arranged for a water tanker to supply water on both days.
“The management and staff are extremely grateful to him,” said Julie Blackburn, resource centre coordinator at Epworth.
Pine Pienaar, vice-chairman of the Lambton Klip Sector Four CPF said: “Thank you to Swanepoel for his efforts.
“We have three groups where community members reported all the issues they were having with the water supply.
“He was continuously giving feedback on these groups.”
On Friday afternoon, a Lambton resident told the GCN that the water had finally been restored.
A query was sent to the metro to confirm this, but, at the time of going to press, no reply had been received.
Related articles:
Emergency water supply interruption affects parts of Germiston
Technicians continue work to restore water to Germiston
Germiston’s water woes continue
Water restored in Germiston – says metro
Metro continues to work on water supply problem
Residents feel metro doesn’t care about water issue
Metro responds to residents’ questions
