A two-month stormwater drain leak in Houghton is spewing thousands of litres of water

A Linksfield resident, Rob Kaplan, who usually takes strolls in Houghton, reached out to the Gazette on May 8 due to being concerned about a leaking stormwater drain that hasn’t been fixed for two months.

Kaplan said, “There is a large consistent water leak that I have been reporting for two months to our local councillor, the water leak wastes thousands of litres per day. The owner of the property adjacent to the leak reported the leak weekly and spoke to me about how he also asked his councillor in Houghton to get it fixed, but there is still no resolution yet.”

He added that approximately 1000 to 1 500 litres of good water was being lost daily.
Ward 73 councillor Eleanor Huggett noted that she was aware of the leaking stormwater drain and it was not the only one she has reported and escalated.

“I had a councillor forum meeting this morning with Johannesburg Water and was promised a ward-by-ward update.”

The Gazette has also seen a report from urban management sent to Huggett detailing the service delivery issues which have been reported and escalated.

The Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) Operations manager, Bertha Scheepers said the entity was not aware of the leak, “Upon receiving this media enquiry, a JRA inspector conducted a site visit. As a follow-up, JRA will be requesting Joburg Water to inspect the area as preliminary investigations reveal a water pipe issue rather than a drainage issue. We will have to revert early next week with the outcome.”

Scheepers added that stormwater drains are checked twice yearly during the winter months in preparation for the rainy season to come and with regards to their turn around time, if it is for leaking stormwater drains it is two weeks but if it is a Capex project where a budget has to be allocated for the financial year it can take longer.

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