Ferndale residents have raised big concerns over the water leak that has been gushing out fresh, clean water for weeks on Oak Avenue in Ferndale.
Louis Steyn explained that the entity was called to fix the leak next to the big tree that has been around for almost 60 years. Joburg Water came, dug up the pavement and fixed the pipe. Once connected, the pipe burst again. The workers then realised that the pipe goes underneath the huge tree.
Apparently the entity requested City Parks to cut down the big tree. As a result, the road surface was damaged, streetlights were broken, and some parts of the tree trunk were left blocking the way on the pavement for months.
Steyn added, “We asked them why they were cutting the tree and we suggested that they connect the pipes around the tree. However, they cut it [tree] and it fell on the road and the streetlights. Now we are left in the dark because the streetlights were damaged.”
After the tree had been cut down Joburg Water came and connected the pipes around tree.
“The tree was cut for nothing as they [Joburg Water] connected the pipes around it like we suggested. All the damage was for nothing and now we have a new leak and again it is ignored.”
Ward 99 councillor Nicole van Dyk said that she has escalated the issue several times to the manager of the Randburg depot.
“We recently had a meeting with Joburg Water to discuss the Rand Water shutdown and the biggest concern from almost all the councillors was communication. Communication is not happening from Joburg Water. We are not getting responses on simple little bursts like this. We are aware that they need R23 billion to repair their maintenance line. The Minister of Water and Sanitation said it is time for the municipality to stop saying they don’t have money and rather say what they have, and what they can achieve with it, and this is where we need to get to in the City of Johannesburg.”
She added that this clearly highlights that in Region B we are now seeing the collapse of infrastructure. “We are seeing high numbers of bursts almost on a daily basis – more than we have ever seen – at least in my eight years as a ward councillor.”
The volume of fresh water wasted daily is increasing at the leak on Oak Avenue. The leak suddenly burst into a dramatic fountain on July 1, as water was being restored due to maintenance.
The chairman of the Ferndale Ridge Residents Group, Pierre van Wyk, explained that after many requests the entity had not fix the leak. “This comes at a difficult time as there is maintenance in the infrastructure leading to four days of water outage in the area which is why residents requested beforehand for the leak to be fixed. We would have had more water available and not running down the drains.”
He added that the leak is going to affect them even more as the maintenance is still ongoing and reservoirs will be empty.
Joburg Water was sent questions about the leak, who is responsible for the trees, streetlights and the road. No reply had been forthcoming by the time of going to print. Comment will be published once made available
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