A burst water pipe was left leaking for days in Isando, wasting hundreds of litres of water while the country faces a crisis.
The pipe, which burst on Monday, was only repaired on Wednesday afternoon – even after Ekurhuleni Metro said its turnaround time for repairing leaks is 24 hours.
In this case the running water, which has become a scarce resource, was only stopped two days after the leak was reported. The burst pipe occurred on the corner of Lathe and Tungsten streets, just outside a business.
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A woman who works for the company, Caitlin Patton, said when she first contacted the metro on October 3 at about noon, she was told the turnaround time for the call out would be four to 24 hours.
“The person on the phone even told me I should call back in four hours if a team had still not arrived to fix the burst pipe. I contacted Ekurhuleni again at about 4pm and was told the call had been logged and that the plumbers would attend to the problem as soon as possible,” said Patton.
But to her dismay, Patton arrived at work the next day to find the water was still running, even though the metro said the water and sanitation department had organised for standby teams to be available to work on repairs after-hours, where necessary.
“I contacted the municipality and was told the plumbers had been instructed to proceed with repairs and that they would attend to the problem. When I contacted them again at around 4pm and 5pm, the phone line was answered but no one replied on the other end.”
Patton said she tried to contact them again on Wednesday morning and experienced the same issue.
According to Ekurhuleni’s spokesperson, Themba Gadebe, the Water and Sanitation Department has stepped up efforts to fix water leaks by increasing the number of standby teams to urgently respond to all water leaks and burst pipes.
“The department will prioritise the closing of water during working hours and follow with repairs after-hours where necessary,” said Gadebe.
Gadebe also confirmed that the metro’s turnaround time to fix reported leaks is, according to the department’s service level standards, 24 hours.
During his media briefing about his 100-day programme, Ekurhuleni mayor, Clr Mzwandile Masina, promised that as part of the efforts to preserve water, 1 700 old and leaking water meters would be replaced.
According to Gadebe, the metro suffered a 30.6% water loss for the period July 2015 to June 2016, adding that the reasons for water pipe bursts and leakages were due to ageing infrastructure.
However, the DA’s Ghaleb Cachalia said the losses, which he said amounted to R735-million, were due to poor maintenance and theft of infrastructure.
Residents can report water service related interruptions by contacting the municipal call centre on 086-054-3000, sending an SMS to 30788, via the website www.ekurhuleni.gov.za, or through social media channels @EMM_Call_Centre on Twitter and the City of Ekurhuleni’s Facebook page.
Twitter users can also get active and spread the word online by using the hashtag ‘#EkuSaveWater’.
