Water leakages for 2015

Burst pipes frustrate residents, especially during the ongoing water shortage in South Africa. Here are some of the serious cases residents reported in 2015.

Resident Ros Grimshaw was under the assumption that a storm drain was blocked when she reported it to the Johannesburg Road Agency initially in January 2013. The results of the investigation revealed that the drain was in fact disconnected. Hence water flowed into Grimshaw’s property in Fontainebleau instead of draining away. Ward 102 Councillor David Potter explained his dissatisfaction at the delay of service delivery.

After returning from a holiday, Alisa and Colin Healy were disappointed to see water flowing from a burst pipe into their property. The couple reported the matter to Joburg Water on 8 January and were relieved to see workers hard at work attending to the pipe the next morning. Colin, who is a manager for CIH Project Services said that the pipe was leaking water because the pipe was old. “The pipe is rotten. That is the problem. They need to replace the piping from steel to plastic.” Colin said.

Resident Tertia Klopper reported a continuous water leak at the Randburg Sports Complex since October last year to management, Joburg Water a number of times. “Thousands of litres of water have been wasted because of the City’s inefficiency to repair a leak,” Klopper said. Joburg Water spokesperson Millicent Kabwe said no complaint was received by the entity as no reference numbers appear to be logged on their system. Ward 102 Councillor David Potter was notified and he said that according to management there is only a water leak at the baseball field. “The City’s call centre refused to log this leak and I have requested Joburg Water Operations Centre to log it for repair to take place,” said Potter.

Resident Rolf Schnurr said that residents in the area noticed a stream of water that ran down Fleet Street in Ferndale that was causing the road to deteriorate. The stream eventually made a big hole in the road days later. According to residents, on 28 March Joburg Water sent a team that managed to repair the water leak but they left the road in a mess after they repaired it. They then sent a team to clean up the mess that ended up stuck in the same hole they were sent to repair.

Resident Richard Owens saw a burst pipe on his property, and he reported the matter on 28 April to Joburg Water. The entity later sent workers to assess the problem, who also dug a trench to divert the water from running into nearby properties. “My main concern regarding this is that the city is losing a lot of money on this leak which is probably running into tens of thousands of rands,” Owen said. Joburg Water spokesperson Millicent Kabwe explained the reason for the continuing leak is because they were waiting for a part which needs to be installed to stop the water flow.