There seems to be a light at the end of the water woes tunnel in West Village.
For the past few weeks, residents have been pouring out their hearts to the News complaining about either low water pressure or no water at all in the area, and that nothing was being done by the powers that be.
Also read: LETTER: Hardly any water in West Village
Also read: LETTER: Water woes, unfixed roads: Nothing gets fixed in West Village
The News has since approached Mogale City Local Municipality (MCLM), which did not deny that there was a water supply issue; in fact, something was being done about it.
Duncan Mkhonto, manager of Water Services at MCLM explained on Thursday, February 3 that a meeting had been held between representatives of the West Village community and MCLM to discuss the water disruptions and challenges of water supply in the Village.
He said it was agreed that as a temporary measure, until such time that electricity supply was restored, the municipality would make water tanker/s available in the area immediately and operate the water pump station by means of a mobile generator.
“The water tanker was made available immediately. The electrical connection for the generator was done in the same week, and the mobile generator and pump operated from March 7.”
The Department also started to investigate the option to install a permanent generator at the pump station but acknowledged, “In the following weeks, the municipality started to receive complaints of low water pressure and/ or no water supply at all in the Village.
On two occasions partially closed valves were found, with the suspicion of possible tampering. Unauthorised vehicles and people were also noticed at the water pump station.”
According to Mkhonto, the new generator room and generator were completed and installed during March and commissioned on March 24.
“However, technical problems were experienced with the changeover and during this period, the Village also experienced water supply problems. The new generator is now fully operational, and minimum outages are expected. The generator is currently operated manually, due to non-availability of electricity for the automatic start of the generator. The Department is investigating the possibility to install a battery system for this purpose.”
Mogale City Utilities Management Services (UMS) department is also busy with the installation of a water level indicator, which will assist with the manual start and stop of the generator.
This operation was planned for March 29.
“It must be noted that with the manual operation of the system, the possibility of human error or failure always exists, which may lead to water disruptions. At this stage UMS has done its utmost best to supply the West Village community with sufficient water and to prevent or minimise any unnecessary water disruptions.
The community is updated on a regular basis of the progress made and informed of any work to be done, including informed of possible water disruptions.”
Regarding water supply to West Village, MCLM confirmed the following:
• Water supply to the West Village Township is provided by MCLM
• Municipal water is supplied from the Rand Water bulk water connection, through the West Village water pump station and pressure tower into the water reticulation system
• Mogale City UMS Water Distribution Networks is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the West Village water pump station, tower, and water reticulation
• The West Village water pump station is/ was supplied with electricity by West Rand Power Distributors (WRPD). As a result of agreements for services supply to West Village Township between MCLM and WRPD not being in place, payments for service delivery were suspended. Due to suspension of services supply including electricity supply to the water pump station by WRDP, water supply challenges and disruptions to the West Village township have been experienced
