THOUSANDS of litres of water were wasted when two water pipes in Pinetown burst on Friday, 21 October.
According to a Pinetown resident, whose identity is known to the Highway Mail, the roads were like rivers which affected traffic significantly.
The first problem was in Underwood Road, on the pavement at a building site. The Pinetown resident said she came across it at around 7am.
“There was a police vehicle parked nearby, so it had obviously been reported a lot earlier. Judging by the amount of water in the area, the problem had occurred quite early in the morning. The water was still gushing out when I returned an hour later,” she said.
The second burst pipe was on Crompton Street near the new Caltex Service Station. The concerned Pinetown resident said she only saw it around 4pm.
“A municipal vehicle was parked nearby and a man was taking photos, so we assumed it was under control. The water was shooting at least 10 to 15 metres into the air. I phoned the municipality’s water faults department just before 7pm because it was still spouting. It was turned off soon after,” she added.
She said so many people on various social media groups phoned to report the Crompton Street burst water pipe, but it took authorities mighty long to close off the main.
To make matters worse, the resident said the SABC news report that night, featured an official from eThekwini Water and Sanitation who announced that since the main supply dam had less than 50 percent capacity, they will be implementing fines to all households who exceed their water usage.
The frustrated resident immediately wrote to the local councillor, Melanie Brauteseth, regarding this issue which she said needed some accountability. “Why did it take so many hours to turn off the water supply. Someone has to be accountable for such blatant wastage, especially since there is such a huge water shortage, and most of us are diligently doing our bit to conserve water,” she said.
Ward 18 councillor, Melanie Brauteseth, could not be reached for a comment at the time of this article being published.
Watch this short video of the Crompton Street water wastage.
