Athlone Park plagued by more water outages
"The only way to alleviate this from happening is to replace the entire line, which is old and fragile with a new pipe - an exercise that will take several months to complete,"_Ward 97's Cllr Andre Beetge.
IRATE Athlone Park residents are crying out for an explanation about ongoing, intermittent water outages which are plaguing the suburb.
During the festive season, residents were without water from Monday, 31 December until Wednesday, 2 January, with the supply again cut on Tuesday night, 8 January. By noon on Wednesday, residents north of Poinsettia Park were still left high and dry.
Going without water is not an uncommon experience for residents of the suburb, as last year they were regularly beset with faults, mainly due to burst water pipes.
“For three whole days now we have been without water,” said an Athlone Park resident, who asked to remain unnamed. “Last year, I myself had reported water faults some eight times, and there were many times when I didn’t report the issue, but other residents did, or when I tried to report the issue but the phone just rang and rang.”
This week’s outage, which started on Tuesday evening, 8 January saw children prepare to head back to school and most adults back to work, without the convenience of water.
The irate resident explained the water issues run deep and won’t be solved by merely repairing a pipe section. The resident said the town’s water infrastructure is clearly outdated and is struggling under the burden of an ever-densifying community.
While the issues exist in ward 93, neighbouring ward 97’s Cllr Andre Beetge provided insight on the matter. Beetge provided updates on his ward’s Facebook page during the new year period, explaining that the existing concrete pipes have reached the end of their lifespan, and are giving way mere days apart, in different locations.
“Believe it or not, but the 200mm AC line in Ipahla road has again ruptured in a different location. After a repair, the weakest point in the remaining line then becomes vulnerable,” he explained on Wednesday, 2 January. “The only way to alleviate this from happening is to replace the entire line, which is old and fragile with a new pipe – an exercise that will take several months to complete.”
The Sun lodged a query with Ethekwini Municipality’s water department, but no response was forthcoming at the time of going to print.
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