Residents of Karee Street have been on a roller-coaster ride of water issues for the past few months.
The water pipes that feed the homes on Karee Street burst at least once a year, with the past six months seeing a series of bursts in different areas along the street.
Residents are frustrated and have had to resort to buying bottled water to wash or fill their toilet systems.
Ward 134 councillor Wendy Alexander said the bursts were due to ageing infrastructure in the area.
The pipes were still the old asbestos/cement water pipes.
Joburg Water has been quick to respond to the bursts and residents are normally only without water for six to 10 hours.
However, Joburg Water has not filled in the trenches which are filled with stagnant water.
The mess is an eyesore to residents and is a source of dust, which is kicked up by vehicles and filters into homes.
One of the larger trenches is situated outside resident Angela Harvey’s house.
She explained that every time the pipes burst, her lawn outside her front wall is dug up and she has to claim for damages.
She said in previous years, her home, as well as her neighbours’ homes, have been flooded. Harvey claimed it must be more expensive to keep on repairing the pipe than to find a permanent solution.
Another resident, Chantal Ramsundhar, said residents on Karee Street were very conscious of using water since the water restrictions and were worried about the water loss from the burst pipes.
Alexander said to replace the pipes required capital expenditure.
“Local municipalities like the City of Johannesburg use the Integrated Development Planning (IDP) as a method to plan future development in their areas. The Karee Street Water Pipe Replacement Project became part of Ward 134’s IDP submission. The IDP submission from all the wards around the City of Johannesburg, inform the City’s budget for the upcoming financial year,” Alexander explained.
The IDP was submitted in October last year.
There will be public meetings regarding the IDP within all regions starting at the end of March. Wards 97, 134 and 126 will hold their meeting on 4 April at the Boskruin Recreation Centre.
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