Ward councillors blamed the City of Ekurhuleni’s (CoE) ageing water infrastructure for Thursday’s water outages in Germiston, Bedfordview and Kempton Park.
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Areas affected by Thursday’s water outage included Bedfordview, Germiston, Lambton, Mimosa Park, Dinwiddie, Wadeville, Tedstonville, Klopperpark, Elandsfontein, Sunnyridge, Gerdview, Homestead, Rustavia, Sunnyrock, Dawnview, Primrose, Primrose Hill, Wychwood, Malvern East, Marlands, Albermarle, Dewittsrus, Norton Small Farms, Union, Cresslawn, Spartan, Isando, Croydon and many other areas.
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“According to Ekurhuleni officials, the issue lies was the main pipeline between the Vaal Dam and Primrose, and Rand Water was allegedly investigating the issue. Lambton residents also reported low water pressure,” said ward councillor Alta de Beer.
“We believe that Rand Water is throttling the water supply to the Germiston and Kempton Park areas.”
De Beer said that the water infrastructure is collapsing owing to the CoE’s ageing infrastructure.
She added the Russel Road Reservoir that supplies water to large parts of Germiston, Albermarle and Wadeville cannot cope with the demand.
“A project commenced in 2019 to build a replacement reservoir in Russel Road, but came to an abrupt halt, because of non-performance from the appointed contractor. The contract was cancelled and the water department withdrew the budget from the project.
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“Consequently, the Primrose and Isando reservoirs have been negatively affected, adversely affecting water supply to large parts of Germiston and Kempton Park. This, again, has a huge impact on industrial areas which are already under strain because of the unreliable electricity supply.
“The city manager, Dr Imogen Mashazi, must reallocate funds to the Russel Road Reservoir Project. The project must be completed urgently, to prevent future water supply disasters,” said de Beer.
Comment was requested from City of Ekurhuleni by Thursday 12:00.
A follow-up request was sent on the same day at 13.30.
No comment was received.
Comment was also requested by 14:00 from Rand Water. No comment was received.
