UPPER Highway residents have yet again been without water, some for more than eight days.
Not only has Botha’s Hill been affected, but Cliffdale as well. Residents on Cliffdale Road said their water went of on Monday 22 September. It was only restored again eight days later.
In Botha’s Hill, the water went off again at about 2pm on Wednesday 1 October and by Thursday it still hadn’t been switched on again.
Dalton Edwards, a Chapel Road resident, said: “The water has been going off every week now and every week there’s a different excuse as to why. I believe eThekwini Municipality is hiding something.”
The head of eThekwini Municipality’s Water and Sanitation Department, Ednick Msweli, told DA PR councillor for Ward 9, Tex Collins, that he is monitoring the Waterfall supply daily.
“The reservoir levels I’ve seen indicate that the areas should be getting water. However, I am aware that the reason they are currently holding is partly due to the current weather (not hot).
“We are also investigating doing some modifications at one of the pump stations as we think this might provide some temporary relief until the Western Aqueduct is commissioned in 2.5 years’ time,” Msweli told Collins.
But Collins said temporary relief is not an option and certainly not for another two years. “The problems are not confined to Waterfall, Crestholme, Madimeni, but have also become a serious issue in Botha’s Hill.
“There is simply no way that the residents of these areas must hold on for two years until the aqueduct project is complete. These problems are new and have only recently become an issue. The residents are now demanding action and action by way of real service delivery and service delivery is what they pay for,” Collins said.
eThekwini Municipality’s communication department said it would comment shortly.
At the end of July Highway Mail reported that water shortages were on the cards as reservoirs were running low on water.
The water shortage persisted throughout August and September as well.
