Following a water leak in Wychwood, at the corner of August and Lobelia roads in recent weeks, Rand Water provided feedback.

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Community stakeholders came out in numbers on October 27 to assist with the water leak in Wychwood.

Occupants on August Road were evacuated and booked into alternative accommodation as the water caused property damage.

Rand Water spokesperson Makenosi Maroo said the leak occurred during a Rand Water leak detection process on a selected pipeline.

“It formed part of condition assessment using a device that needs to be inserted inside the pipe under pressure, not to disrupt water supply, through valves located in the concrete chambers,” said Makenosi.

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“In this particular instance, a few steel bolts that are holding the air valve to the pipeline, broke during preparation and due to high pressure, the carrying capacity of the remaining bolts was not sufficient to withhold the operating pressure,” said Makenosi, who added that as a result an uncontrolled release of water at high pressure occurred.

“Based on the building asset management engineers’ inspection report and onsite observations, several minor to moderate damages were caused by the water as it was released at a high pressure and huge volume,” said Makenosi.

“Since the incident was isolated, we have conducted a root cause analysis to determine exactly what happened, why it happened and how we can prevent a similar incident from happening.

“The outcomes of the RCA are being incorporated into our standard operating procedure when conducting similar exercises in the future,” he said.

“The house occupants have since been booked into an alternative accommodation until the damages to their house have been addressed.

“A contractor was appointed and based on the contractor’s plan, it will then be determined by when they will be moving back into the house.

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“Rand Water’s insurance assessors have been to the affected houses to assess the damage and will provide a report.

“Rand Water will not be able to share the report with media, or any other party, as insurance reports are confidential documents that are not for public consumption.

“Rand Water systems were not affected by this incident and no water shortage was experienced,” said Makenosi.