Unplanned water outage angers residents
EMMARENTIA – Residents were left disappointed after 48 hours of unplanned water outage in Emmarentia.
An unplanned water outage in Emmarentia left residents stranded and dissatisfied with service delivery.
Ward 88 Councillor Pat Richards expressed her sentiments about the water outage that hit Emmarentia for 48 hours.
“I am really unhappy about not being told about the water outage that happened in the area. I, as a Ward councillor, was not informed about this,” she said. “We have old age homes in the community and they can’t manage without water. Other people complained about their geyser bursting because they did not prepare for the water outage.”
Richards informed that she will be conducting her own investigation to find out who was responsible for not informing the community about the water outage.
Emmarentia Residents Association’s chairperson Wolgang Phoenix was also not impressed with Johannesburg Water.
“All through the day Joburg Water fed us half-truths and blatant lies about progress,” he added.
“Despite repeated and early reports by residents, Johannesburg Water management ignored the problem. Restoration was supposed to be at 6pm. Then Johannesburg Water kept shifting the goalposts. First 7pm, then 8pm then 10pm then midnight then nothing,” said the disappointed Phoenix, adding that Johannesburg Water should be held accountable.
“The proposed water increase is 15 per cent and current inflation is 3.9 per cent why the hell should we pay nearly five times more than inflation for a poor and often non-existent service? Increases should be directly related to customer satisfaction,” Phoenix said.
Questions were sent through to Johannesburg Water and they are yet to respond.
