RESIDENTS on Keeling Place, Queensburgh, were left puzzled about the city’s water rationalisation programme after waiting for almost three hours for water services to attend to a burst pipe.
According to the house owner, the pipe burst from out of nowhere and soon, water was gushing into her home. “Most days, I am at work during the day but luckily I took a day off today. I can’t imagine what my house would be like if I had not been here when this happened. I immediately called the municipality and informed them,” said resident, Hazel Gengan.
She added that even though she had explained to the consultant that it was an emergency, the matter was not immediately attended to and water continued to gush in. The water ran into Gengan’s yard and into other properties in the area for hours before a neighbour’s idea to change the flow of the water saved the properties from getting flooded, however, thousands of litres were still being wasted.
The water poured down from Keeling Place, down Dilkosh Road and continued on St. Augustine Road and residents gathered said the amount of water that got wasted made them question the reports about water rationalisation. A private plumber was called in to intervene but was unsuccessful at turning the water off. Water services together with a fire truck eventually arrived and residents were subjected to a five hour water supply cut while the pipe was being fixed.
Councillor André Mitchell said most pipe burst were due to the fact that most pipes in the area were very old and needed to be changed in order to avoid any more water wastage. The eThekwini Municipality’s Communications Head, Tozi Mthethwa, said, “All reported cases are being attended to and residents are urged to contact the call centre number 080 13 13013 and provide the call centre agents with their reference number so that they can be given an update regarding the status of their complaint and/or query.”
