Elderly residents left with no water for two days
Garden Village saw its 200 elderly residents without running water after a pipe burst outside in the street.
An old age home was without water for 48 hours, and elderly residents complained of not being able to wash themselves or flush their toilets, before the home provided them with water.
From the morning of June 7 to the morning of June 9, Garden Village, as well as other houses in the area were without running water due to a pipe burst on Garden Road, Bordeaux.
“We have no water to flush our toilets or wash our hands. This is terrible hygiene and I worry for the people in frail care who need to be cleaned or they will get sick,” Beth Harris (77) told Randburg Sun when the publication investigated on June 8.
“This pipe has burst so many times in the last few years and here we go again. Thankfully we bought 5l water bottles to use.”
The home also provided water to the residents during this time.
She said one resident turned 98 on the day and she had to spend her birthday trying to lift these water bottles to fill her toilet tank, before other residents helped her.
Another elderly resident, Bart Cox reiterated Harris’ concern about the 50 people in the frail care centre, who would have to use the extra water provided by the home instead of running water.
He joked that he smelt horrible because he had not been able to shower.
Barbara O’Sullivan waded her hand in the water running from the burst pipe, where residents estimated thousands of litres had been lost while Joburg Water took their time attending to the scene.
Randburg Sun alerted Joburg Water spokesperson, Seipati Nyawuza about the matter on June 8, and she escalated it with the local depot. The pipe was repaired the next morning.
Nyawuza was given questions about the matter but she has yet to comment.
The management of Methodist Homes, which owns Garden Village, would not comment.
Nearby resident, Colin Glason confirmed this pipe had burst several times before in recent years, and sometimes it would be left trickling for months.
“I phoned [Joburg Water] every hour because I could not stand to see the elderly like this,” he said.
“They promised they would fix it by noon the second day but they did not come until the next morning.”
More pipe bursts
Ward 102 councillor, David Potter said there had been an increase in the number of pipe bursts in the area recently.
“This is largely due to ageing infrastructure, repairs on a section of pipe which results in other bursts on sections further down the water pipe line, and sometimes poor repair of bursts and backfilling,” he said.
“There is nothing new about these facts and nor is Bordeaux the only suburb affected by this. The suburb of Bordeaux ‘South’ submitted a petition to Joburg Water for the urgent replacement of water pipes in July 2019. Unfortunately, and frustratingly, the replacement of water pipes is needed across the City and funding made available for water pipe replacements (and other services) does not cover the growing enormity of need.”
He said his office wrote to the petitions committee in April this year for an update and has not received one yet.
“Furthermore, my office has submitted a formal question to MMC for Infrastructure Services Michael Sun for which an answer should be submitted to a full sitting of the Joburg City Council in due course.”
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