Umgeni Water and a contractor had to act fast to repair a leak in the R38 million Tongaat-Hazelmere emergency pipeline near the bottom pump last Thursday.
The pipeline runs through three of Prakash Mathura’s farms and he became concerned when he noticed an unusual amount of water coming up from underground and running into his fields near the Tongaat-Hulett furrow where the pipeline draws its water from.
Meanwhile, Umgeni Water staff noticed a drop in pressure and flow at the pump and realised that water must be leaking somewhere along the 7.5 kilometre length. Upon investigation it was found that a seal had popped on one of the air valves.
“The seal was replaced but soon popped again, indicating that the seal, although within specification, was the wrong size for the pressure point,” said Umgeni Water spokesman Shami Harichunder.
The seal has since been replaced with a stronger one and Harichunder said the pipeline was pumping at full capacity again.
He said the less than three months old pipeline was still relatively new and teething problems were to be expected. For this reason the contractor has to guarantee his work for 12 months to resolve any problems that may occur within that time.
“In the past month an average of 6.3 million litres per day was pumped through the pipeline and on many days, flow reached the full eight million litres per day capacity. That is as good as can be expected through a scheme of this nature,” said Harichunder.
When the Courier visited the outflow point on Wednesday afternoon, July 29, it was bone dry (possibly due to the leak) but on Monday morning, August 3 the outflow area was wet. The outflow area has also been improved since the last time the Courier visited the site. Larger erosion controlling gabions have been added and a path has been cleared where water flows down the embankment.
