City of Mbombela sets aside millions to resolve water challenges in White River
Some residents are fed up with the ongoing water crisis since many households clean water supplies, It is but a memory, however, the municipality has set aside R2m to address the crisis.
As the next election looms, promises of improved services are bound to increase, but only time will tell if long-standing issues will finally be resolved.
Residents cannot be blamed for taking the latest undertakings with less than the proverbial pinch of salt. One pledge, which is reiterated regularly without any improvement to the City of Mbombela’s (CoM) failure to provide regular and clean water for the townsfolk, is the refurbishment of the White River water works, which is ‘under way’.
Meanwhile, the residents are fed up with the ongoing water crisis. For many households in this once flourishing town, clean water supply, is but a memory.
The CoM’s spokesperson, Joseph Ngala, said the municipality has set aside R2m to address the crisis.
ALSO READ: White River water crisis not getting any better
He said the recent shortages were caused by power outages, and they couldn’t meet the water demand. The cable theft at the Nelspruit Water Treatment Works also had a negative impact on supplying water in the area. While all these are valid reasons, the question remains why other municipalities are able to overcome these challenges.
“We have areas with low pressure and inconsistent water supply; water comes and goes. Silulumanzi is done with the generator connection that supplies the main feed to White River. We are just waiting for the formal response indicating when the generator is going to be operational. We have budgeted R2m and the priority is to start with the filtration system that will optimise the water quality challenges at the plant. It will also assist in supplying enough water in the area,” Ngala said.
Meanwhile, community members are getting hot under the collar as they say they have kept their part of the bargain by paying rates and taxes, while the CoM has been playing fast and loose with this basic human right – the supply of clean drinking water.
ALSO READ: Sections of White River without water for more than three weeks
One of the residents, Chris van Zyl, said they have heard the same promise many times before, and he will only believe it once the CoM actually starts with the refurbishment. “We just need a permanent solution. It is our basic right to have clean water. We are also paying for services that are not well delivered, which is unfair.”
, another community member, said the CoM needs to take its customers seriously, because people cannot stay without water for weeks without any form of communication to the residents, and then empty promises to boot. “We had been nagging the municipality for a long time to resolve the problem. Let’s hope they use the money wisely to resolve the issues.”
Ngala had not provided a definite timeframe for starting with the promised refurbishments by the time of going to press.
