For a second time this year, Dawnview taps ran dry for lengthy periods.
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Residents from the impacted communities gathered on June 20 at the intersection of Churchill Avenue and Association Road to seek answers from Ward 36 Clr Wendy Morgan.
Residents reported having little to no water from May 25 to 29.
Dawnview resident Chantal Davies said that water pressures improved on May 29 but by June 2 the taps were dry again.
She reported to Germiston City News that by June 20, the area had struggled with water supply for 22 days.
“We barely got water for three days out of the 22 days. We understand that the Churchill pump station is the problem, followed by the Rand Water Palmiet station. Nobody is providing us with firm solutions,” said Davies.
“It appears as if Rand Water and the City of Ekurhuleni are playing the blaming game while we suffer.
“There is a communication problem. Residents are urged to obtain references, which we did and can provide. We try to follow up with the call centre but get no response,” said Davies.
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“Residents visited the Ekurhuleni Water Department on June 15 in search of answers. This appeared to work as we finally received some support. Teams from CoE and Rand Water got together to work on the problem.
“Residents offered security as they were required to work at night. On June 15 at about 20:00, they made the decision to continue on the Friday.
“We waited for them for several hours on Friday while the teams between CoE and Rand Water debated. When they began collaborating, the problem was resolved. At around 16:00 on Friday, we finally started getting water.
“Water is a fundamental human right. Finally, we got access to water though, on Tuesday morning, June 20, we had no water again.
“Association Road, Churchill Avenue, Dawnview East, and West, are some of the streets and areas affected by this outage,” said Davies last week when large parts of Primrose had no water supply due to the power outage in large parts of Germiston.
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Mary-Ann Harrison shared her grievances, stating that locals should not have to stage a protest to receive the services they have paid for.
With the cholera outbreak in the country, she questioned how people could maintain their hygiene.
“I haven’t done any washing in three weeks, and it keeps piling up,” said Harrison, adding that her geyser was not filling up and that eventually, it might not function optimally.
“Not flushing the toilet is not hygienic. We are forced to purchase food since we are unable to prepare meals and spend the limited water we have on dishwashing.
“This increases the expense of our budget because eating out is expensive. The CoE has failed us dismally,” said Harrison.
Morgan said there have been numerous problems with the pump station.
Apparently, these problems throughout the 22-plus-day outage were also caused by Rand Water and Palmiet booster pumping station failing to function optimally.
“The blame game isn’t improving the situation,” said Morgan.
“On Friday they had one pump working which eventually supplied water to residents till Tuesday morning.
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The CoE has given us a water tanker, which is stationed at the intersection of Association Road. It gets filled regularly to meet the demand of water supply.
“The ultimate idea is to get a water tower at Dawnview by Bill Stewart Nature Reserve. This will help mitigate future outages in the area,” said Morgan.
June 13 feedback
Rand Water confirmed in a June 13 statement that the entity experienced power failures at the Palmiet booster pumping station.
Rand Water spokesperson Makenosi Maroo said although the fault was attended to after a few hours and power was restored, it still took time for the system to fully recover.
“The power failure resulted in the reduction of water levels to Rand Water reservoirs at Klipriviersberg, Klipfontein, Germiston, North Ridge, Brakfontein and Hartebeesthoek.
“These reservoirs supply water to Johannesburg Water, City of Ekurhuleni, City of Tshwane, and industries,” Maroo said.
“Rand Water has issued a communication to these entities to inform them of the power failure to allow the entities to plan, execute appropriate contingency plans and communicate with affected communities and customers,” he said.
Rand Water highlighted at the time that areas supplied by these reservoirs will experience low pressure to no water for a few days as the system takes time to fully recover.
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GCN sent a request for updated comments to Rand Water on June 22, questioning the lack of water supply to Dawnview and who was responsible for the Churchill pump station not working.
Comment was requested by June 23 at 10:00. At the time of going to print, no comment had been received.
On June 23 CoE spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said power failures resulted in a total stoppage of pumping of water at Windsor and Churchill pump stations.
“The City of Ekurhuleni has provided water tankers to mitigate the effects of the water outage affecting parts of Germiston because of a power outage affecting pump stations in the area,” said Dlamini.
At the time of going to print, no further comment had been received.
