No respite as the Glencoe water crisis continues
The crisis continues a week after it was the generator powering the treatment plant had 'packed up'
Months after the last water crisis ended, water-shedding is back – coupled with stage 6 load-shedding – and residents are threatening insurrection.
This time around, a faulty generator that pumps water at the Biggarsberg Water Treatment Plant on Mpati Hill is being blamed for the disaster which has seen taps running dry in the municipal area for over a week.
Glencoe was particularly hard hit, as the reservoir near the prison is in desperate need of an upgrade. In Dundee, water was running for about two hours a day – depending on the area.
Sources at Umzinyathi said the four-hour load-shedding – currently running at two blocks a day – is shutting down the system completely.
Cllr Naresh Gopie said he had personally checked on the generator and found that it had ‘packed up’ last Tuesday.
“A Good Samaritan did offer the use of his generator as a quick fix, but unfortunately it was not the right size,” Gopie said. A march on the Umzinyathi District offices in October, following the last water crisis, saw a petition being handed over to a representative of the National Department of Water Affairs, but there is yet to be a response.
Umzinyathi Councillor Lucky Khumalo told the Courier he was hoping to be in contact with the minister’s office this week to get feedback.
Dundee residents complained that no water tankers had been sent out and they were worried that, with schools starting this week, the water quandary would ‘be even more disruptive’. In Glencoe, it was again volunteers who reacted along with Cllr Saleem Adbool, where 1400 five-litre containers of water were given to households at a rate of two per house.
Residents who had empty containers could also have these refilled by the volunteers, who used their own fuel and water to assist the community.
A tanker from Umzinyathi was also sent out, but Sithembile residents said that no one had come to their rescue.
“With stage 6 loadshedding we are currently subjected to, it makes it difficult for us to supply adequate water as our engines use electricity to pump water to the Water Plant Treatment”, said Thandeka Ngobese, Communications Officer at uMzinyathi Municipality. She also added that for the past few days, they rely on generators to pump water, but due to pressure, one of their generators has had a mechanical failure.
“We are trying to source another generator rental unit whilst this one is still under repairs and we also appeal to our community to continue to use water sparingly as this stage 6 loadshedding is still with us”, she concluded.
