Johannesburg Water repairs ’10-year-old leak’ in Bordeaux
Residents are glad a water leak in Bordeaux was repaired but are disappointed rubble left from the reinstatement was left behind.
Johannesburg Water has repaired a water pipe residents claim had been leaking in Bordeaux for 10 years.
However, residents are still waiting for the rubble to be removed that was left since the entity did its work in June.
The entity’s communication and marketing team issued a statement on August 4, in response to the article Randburg Sun published about the matter two weeks earlier, on July 16. This publication had requested comment from the entity at the time but had to run the article when this was not forthcoming before the print deadline.
Also Read: Bordeaux water pipe leaks for 10 years
“The abovementioned article refers to a few pipe bursts over the years that affected Garden Village, an old age home that is situated at 72 Garden Road, Bordeaux. Reference is made to a water pipe on Garden Road that has apparently been leaking for 10 years,” Johannesburg Water explained in its statement.
“The article makes very vague assertions that the pipe burst a few times over the years and most recently in June 2023, and that is apparently still leaking. It is well established that Johannesburg Water relies on the community to log calls where reference numbers are issued to track progress on water-related matters, including leaks and pipe repair requests. However, the article makes only one reference to a leak that occurred previously (June 2022), and no other reference is made for other times that the leak occurred over the last 10 years.
“Furthermore, the reference number (800 595 3093) provided for the call was generated by the CoJ on April 20, and verified by Johannesburg Water’s customer care officer on May 2. A new Johannesburg Water reference number was subsequently created as 404285100 and 404288107, both for backfilling at 72 Garden Road, Bordeaux.
The statement continued that the pipe was found still leaking and a follow-up job was created and the leak repaired on June 2.
“Thereafter, the job was referred to the reinstatement contractor and actioned. As mentioned before, this progress on addressing the reinstatement was again reported to the CoJ Ombudsman in June 2023, which at the time showed that number 72 Garden Road (Garden Village) was done at the time.”
Johannesburg Water continued that there is a pipe replacement project scheduled for this financial year (2023/24) and this is currently at design stage, with implementation depending on the availability of funds.
In response to this. resident Colin Glajchen said all the calls he logged with Joburg Water over the years had been closed, and this latest reference number was the only one he still had. “I am glad they finally repaired the leak, and I hope it stays that way, but now we are still left with the rubble they abandoned two months ago. It is too heavy to lift so I hope they will come back to take it away.”
Further comment was requested of Joburg Water on August 8, as to whether the rubble will be removed, and if so, when.
