Residents reach bursting point at water wastage
Waterfall and Crestholme are severely affected by water pipe bursts, with 13 occurrences since December 2017.
RESIDENTS in Waterfall and Crestholme call for immediate intervention from the eThekwini Municipality to upgrade the pipe infrastructure to prevent continuous water outages.
Local resident, Dwain Dreyer, took it upon himself to set up an information group on WhatsApp to receive and record the numerous complaints.
Since June last year, there have been 26 water outages in the area due to burst pipes.
Seven of the outages occurred in December, including Christmas Day and, since the start of the New Year, residents have been without water for a total of six days.
“We have been complaining about the failing infrastructure for years. The municipality needs to give us residents the answers we deserve as ratepayers, as well as their plans to rectify the issue once and for all,” said Dreyer.
He noted there were a few roads that suffered continuous pipe bursts, these include: Brackenhill Road, Kundalila Road, Crestholme Drive and Niagara Dive.
“These bursts also affect large areas of Molweni and Madameni,” said Dreyer.
“Water is such a scarce commodity at present and with ongoing pipe bursts we end up wasting thousands of kilolitres. This is a huge concern.”
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Nikki Thomson, a Waterfall resident, said she moved into her home on Niagara Drive in June last year and within the first two weeks, a pipe burst outside her home.
“There were four within the period of 10 days. During a recent burst, the ground’s stability was compromised and the telephone pole was falling over, so workers tied it to my fence with rope. Each time they do repairs, the sidewalk cannot be used by pedestrians and I worry for their safety as they now have to walk on the road,” said Thomson.
DA PR Ward councillor, Tex Collins, said, “Clearly something is not right. There should be no need to have the same pipe fixed over and over again. It should be fixed once. If a community can put together a database of the weak points, then surely the department should too. If there is a problem it should be fixed, immediately.
“The City has a budget to fix these kinds of problems and it has not been used. We want them to spend the money where it is needed.”
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