THE two water pipe bursts which left Glenhills residents without water yesterday have been repaired. Ward councillor for the area, Pete Graham said he was on the scene to meet with the municipal plumber who attended to the burst.
Graham said the pipe was repaired on Wednesday but added that it burst again soon after further down the road. When the same pipe burst a second time, repairs were halted because a tree was hindering access to the fault, said Graham.
“I have grave concerns regarding the tree that had significant water runoff exposing its root system. It is my belief that the City’s Parks Department need to urgently remove the tree as there is a chance of further leaks, heavy rains further weakening the soil’s integrity and in future the root system damaging the plastic pipes that have replaced the asbestos,” he added.
Also read:Water flows back into Durban North after major leak
A Cypress Drive resident who wanted to remain anonymous said his taps ran dry on Saturday, 19 October.
“It intermittently came on and off for five minutes at a time and that’s how it carried on until 6am this morning. It seems to have stayed constantly on since then. I understand there was a fault in Elderberry Drive, but it affected the whole neighbourhood including Cypress Drive and Mvuli Road. They should be able to section off an area to address a fault so it doesn’t affect everyone,” they said.
While the City deployed tankers to the area to supply water to residents, Graham said: “I would like to thank the municipal plumbers who worked throughout the night to return services to the affected households. It was an extremely challenging project as the services of both the electricity and parks department were required to ensure the safety of the municipal workers and residents was ensured during the lengthy repair,” he added.
The eThekwini Municipality did not send their comment at the time this article was published.
You can also sign up for news alerts on Telegram. Send us a Telegram message (not an SMS) with your name and surname (ONLY) to 060 532 5532. 
Here’s where you can download Telegram on Android or Apple.
