Four weeks without water: Munsieville residents close road
Apart from not being able to bath, they can't flush their toilets, can't cook, there is no water at schools or at early childhood development centres, old age homes or even the local clinic.
The whole country has been left in the dark with load-shedding even reaching Stage 6. But for the residents of Munsieville and other parts of the Mogale City community Stage 6 has brought new challenges such as water shortages.
On Wednesday, September 21 Munsieville residents closed Van Riebeeck Road to voice their frustration after being left without water for four weeks.
Also read: Permanent water restrictions for Mogale if usage is not decreased
When the News arrived on scene the residents were waiting for the MCLM Executive Mayor Councillor Tyrone Gray to address their concerns and update them on when they would have water in their taps.
The community told News journalist Natasha Pretorius how they have been struggling for the past few weeks. Apart from not being able to bath, they can’t flush their toilets, can’t cook, there is no water at schools or at early childhood development centres, old age homes or even the local clinic.
They also claimed that the water provided by the water tankers was making people ill, which just added to the crisis.
One resident explained that she bought five litres of water every day so she could prepare bottles for her four-month-old baby. She also filled two 20 litre bottles with water to use for flushing and washing. The issue is that some community members are unemployed and cannot afford to buy water or even food, and have to make do with what is provided to them.
“One week without water is a stage of panic but a month without water is unspeakable,” one resident said. He claimed that they had been told that the issue needed to be sorted out with the provincial government and that is why they decided to close down the provincial road.
Life right now has become a problem. If we are honest a lot of rules have been broken,” said another resident.
People have to walk far to fill their bottles and buckets, but many elderly residents cannot make the journey and have to rely on the water tankers that the municipality provides – the ones with the water they claim is making everyone sick.
Also read: Water supply interruptions: Deadline to resolve crisis is Sep 18
Even when they do get to the reservoir to fill their containers there are only two hoses with little water pressure. Many of them miss work or have to go in late every day so they can first fetch water.
Gray addressed the crowd and told them that a booster pump for the Dan Pienaarville reservoir had been installed on Tuesday, September 20. The issue as he explained it is that Krugersdorp’s main reservoirs get their water from the Roodepoort reservoir. During load-shedding they use generators to pump the water but the generators pump slowly. When people use water during load-shedding the main reservoirs’ levels drop from about 42% to 33%. When there is not enough water in that reservoir the pressure drops, that is why they installed the booster pump at Dan Pienaarville.
The problem is that Rand Water cannot keep up with the supply because of load-shedding. MCLM has engaged with City Power, which is busy re-engineering its grid to see how they can isolate so they can keep Roodepoort pumping without load-shedding, and then Krugersdorp reservoirs will fill up too.
The booster pump will also help, but they cannot run the booster pump without water because it will fail.
Also read: Reasons for the water supply crisis in parts of Mogale City
Gray has asked Eskom and City Power how they can isolate the line to the Roodepoort reservoir.
In general we are going to see more and more water-shedding across Gauteng,” he said.
A meeting has also been scheduled with the Noordheuwel community regarding their water concerns, which the News will attend.
Also read: LETTER: Resident frustrated by water woes in Krugersdorp
Also read: Water interruptions in parts of Mogale being investigated
