FOLLOWING a spate of burst pipes in Queensburgh, the eThekwini Municipality has issued a press release. Residents in Gray Place, Northdene, had a water meter burst. The owners said it took 27 days before the problem was attended to. They had made numerous fault complaints to the water department to no avail.
“The city was not aware of the matter. The relevant unit has been tasked to attend to the burst pipe. EThekwini Water and Sanitation (EWS) repairs between 200 to 400 faults a day, 95 per cent of leaks are repaired in 24 hours and 98 per cent in 48 hours. Priority is of course given to larger leaks and these are often isolated in one to two hours and then repaired within six to eight hours, said eThekwini Municipality Head of Communications, Tozi Mthethwa..
She said EWS utilises approximately 100 plumbing teams to repair up to 400 faults a day. The city also proactively uses specialist contractors to look for non-visible leaks in the system.
“The municipality is, however, also in the process of hiring more plumbers to reduce the turnaround times of repairs to leaks and bursts. The municipality urges residents to continue reporting illegal water connections and water leaks to the number 080 1313013. Residents can also use the number 43554 to SMS when reporting water leaks or e-mail Eservices@durban.gov.za. The quicker eThekwini Water and Sanitation is informed about a leak, the quicker they can respond and address the matter to prevent further water loss,” Mthetwa added.
According to her, the municipality has qualified and dedicated staff whose key mandate is to deliver services to the people of eThekwini.
“We apologise for the delay in this regard. Factors that influence delays in the turnaround time to isolate and repair a leak include inaccurate information relating to the type of leak being reported resulting in incorrect teams being dispatched to attend to the problem. Weather conditions – on rainy days it is difficult to trace and isolate a leak. Teams often have to wait until the rain stops and it is completely dry for them to begin to trace the source of the leak Incorrect address given or unstructured addresses in rural areas, therefore it takes time for teams to get to the location and, depending on the terrain, tracing a leak can be complicated as the water may surface in a particular area when in fact the actual source may be elsewhere.
