Water leaks for 6 months in Lyndhurst

LYNDHURST – Resident calls out Joburg Water over water leak during water restrictions.

Khanyisile Ngcobo

October 7, 2016

Vincent Joseph from Lyndhurst, stands next to the leaking water, running parallel to his property.

A frustrated Lyndhurst resident is calling out Johannesburg Water over an ongoing water leak which has been affecting his property for the past six months.

The resident, Vincent Joseph, alleged that the issue started two years ago when fresh water started coming out of the ground in his neighbour’s yard, running onto his property and damaging his wall. “We then reported it to Joburg Water and after much wrangling, workers finally came out and ‘fixed’ the leak – but six months ago, it started up again,” he said.

Joseph then explained that the leak was non-stop and that when the water began running onto his property, he was forced to install pipes to channel the water away from his yard.

Vincent Joseph next to the leaking water, which remains unfixed six months after the initial complaint.

He expressed shock at the slow pace in fixing the leak reported six months ago, especially with the water restrictions currently in place across the city, and called on the entity to resolve the issue.

Responding to this was Tidimalo Chuene, marketing and communications manager at Joburg Water, who confirmed that the entity knows about it and that a call was logged for repairs on the leak. “We are aware of the issue but what is not clear, is why the job was closed as completed on our system when it was not; our operations team is investigating the matter and, at the same time, is assigning work to another team to attend to it,” she said.

Chuene added that this issue was an isolated incident and one that the entity’s management had taken a special interest in its resolution. She concluded by explaining that Joburg Water was sensitive to incidents of prolonged water leaks, especially in light of the water restrictions imposed on supply and consumption.