Municipality requested to intervene in water crisis
As if the Eskom and municipal power cuts were not enough, Mineralia and Middelburg South residents have been without water for 13 days.
The municipality dispatched JOJO tanks on Wednesday for affected residents.
On Thursday morning, the municipality sent a message informing residents that a pipe burst at the corner of Kwarts- and Sasol Street, also in Chrome Street. Restoration time was not given.
DA councillor Deon van der Merwe said in the last two weeks the affected areas have experienced 43 pipe bursts, two of which were from the line feeding parts of Middelburg and Mhluzi.
Cllr. van der Merwe said some residents have low water pressure, meanwhile others have had dry tips for two weeks.
He added that he hasn’t received a clear answer from the municipality about the cause of the pipe bursts.
One resident contacted www.mobserver.co.za in frustration after having gone for 13 days without water.
The resident, who requested anonymity, stated that as an elderly resident the water interruptions have become an infringement on her constitutional right.
“We are expected to drive up and down all day after water tankers and not everyone can do that! What about the elderly or people without cars? I struggle to walk as it is and need to go for a hip replacement but I’m expected to transport bottles of water for basic household use,” she said.
The resident also explained that her husband works as a mechanic and neither of them have been able to take a bath in the last 13 days.
“I have had to dig out a fortune to pay a laundry service to wash our clothes and it is infuriating that residents are always expected to somehow make a plan at their own expense under these circumstances.”
“The ward councillors and municipality keep asking for patience but 13 days without water is ridiculous! Yes, we know that its due to pipe bursts and that it is nobody’s fault, but the municipality seems to expect of us to accept these bursts as the new norm! Why can they not address the cause once and for all instead of expecting us to make peace with more than three pipe bursts a day?”
• On Wednesday, Cllr. van der Merwe informed the mayor about the issue and water tanks were dispatched to the affected areas.
Mr van der Merwe requested that the municipality intervenes in the crisis.
