ILLEGAL water connections are causing havoc for residents of Avoca who are facing prolonged outages.
The Avoca Road pumphouse is at the centre of the longstanding issue with the door to the municipal structure being vandalised and illegal connections diverting water away from residents’ homes.
Vice-chairperson of the Ward 34 Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association, Trevor Pillay, said the illegal connections leave several homes across three roads without water on an almost nightly basis.
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“Through our own investigations, we have discovered that water is stolen through an illegal connection from the pumphouse that feeds our streets. We’ve even discovered a hosepipe that is connected to the water pump snaking out of the back of the pumphouse. This situation and concerns over the security of the pumphouse have been reported to the municipality in March, and still, nothing has been done,” he said.
Pillay added that the locking mechanism on the pumphouse door had also been tampered with, making it easy to access.
“There are individuals involved in this, and it diverts water away from ratepaying residents. Many of our residents are elderly, and schoolgoers are affected by this daily, and we find ourselves in a hopeless situation where this illegal situation continues daily. One of the first steps we hope the municipality will consider is securing the pumphouse door and lock. Anyone can access it and remove water connections and connect illegally – it’s far too easy,” he said.
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Ward 34 councillor Andrew Akkers, who is aware of the situation, opened a case of Tampering with Municipal Infrastructure at the Greenwood Park SAPS.
A suspect was later arrested for tampering with the pumphouse, however, residents and the councillor have urged the eThekwini Municipality to act.
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