Sections of White River without water for more than three weeks
The City of Mbombela put the water challenges down to the current load-shedding and White River's ageing infrastructure, but maintained that it was working towards solutions to the matter
Angered residents of White River are demanding that the City of Mbombela (CoM) treat the water shortage problem as a matter of urgency.
According to ward councillor Rowan Torr, this has been a major problem for some time due to ageing infrastructure, with the current load-shedding and power reduction worsening the situation.
“The CBD still does not have water, while in other areas, the supply is on and off. The reservoir levels are too low to supply sufficient pressure to those areas, and the demand is exceeding supply,” he said.
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Torr said the community has fixed the White River generator system at the raw water treatment plant. However, that supply is not sufficient to supply the town with all the water it needs. “There will always be a crisis until load-shedding and power reduction have been permanently sorted out or when the catchment areas are reassessed to create a regional dam storage facility in the Brondal area.”
CoM’s municipal manager, Wiseman Khumalo, echoed Torr’s sentiment that White River Water Works required urgent refurbishment and that the existing pipe network needed replacement. Due to the fact that the water scheme is badly hampered by staggered power outages and water shortages, flushing of the system was not possible, and mud residue has landed in the system.
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“The water scheme is severely affected by staggered power outages. The scheme on average receives 10 million litres of water on a 24-hour basis from the Mbombela Water Scheme to Rocky Drift, Phumlani/Msholozi, White River and Hillsview. There are three pump stations on this line, Boschrand, Bundu and Phumlani, which are all on different load-shedding time zones. White River also receives water from White River Water Works, that was never on a load-shedding schedule in the past,” Khumalo said.
Due to the linear relay nature of water systems, planning for load-shedding and load reduction becomes impossible.
The municipality said, however, that it was working to ensure water to all households in White River.
