White River fed up with water woes
The residents of White River have declared war against the City of Mbombela Local Municipality (CMLM).
WHITE RIVER – This came after interruptions in bulk water supply have again plagued residents for four days since Saturday. It has now become a common problem for the area.
We have started the process to take legal steps against the municipality. This is war,” chairman of the local ratepayers’ association, Piet Skead, declared.
According to ward councillor Trudie Grové Morgan, residents were without water for four days and are furious with CMLM, who installed new bulk water pipes.
“They just did it without informing anybody. I did not even know. I got so many calls from people complaining, it felt like I was going to lose my head,” she told the newspaper.
Municipal manager, Neil Diamond, took to Facebook on Monday to keep residents informed.
He added that they were working tirelessly to fix the problem.
“But everything took twice as long as they promised,” Grové Morgan said.
She has been spearheading the fight against the ongoing water crisis in the area. Water outages in this town are a common problem, as well as dirty water, blockages, burst and leaking pipes and water not being distributed equally to all residents.
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Other issues regarding qualified water operators, service efficiency and outrageous rates were also raised. Residents of the area are furious.
Skead, who is also a long-time resident, said that the water interruption was in fact longer than four days. “The people living close to the reservoir have not had water for a week.”
He explained that the infrastructure is old and that maintenance was not being done.
He demanded that White River get their own meter so that the water that they pay for “does not go to Msholozi”.
According to him, he and his family store water in cans for when they do not have water, or they use water from their swimming pool.
During a meeting that was held in June, the community decided that, with Grové Morgan’s help, they would be taking the matter into their own hands.
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CMLM spokesman, Joseph Ngala, indicated that the long-term solution for the problem will be the building of a new reservoir.
He did not give any indication as to when this would happen. The community have since started a petition that has gotten more than a thousand signatures.
This petition will be handed over to CMLM representatives during a meeting that will be held on Monday.
“This time we hand-delivered the invitations so that there is no excuse for them not to come to the meeting this time. This was the very last straw,” said Grové Morgan.
