Never-ending water woes irks YWP resident
Phiwe Cele has suffered a great loss in property damage as a result of the problem which he said has been ongoing for five years.
FRUSTRATED Yellowwood Park resident, Phiwe Cele is at his wits’ end in what seems like a never ending water woes outside his home.
He faces continuous flooding caused by pipes often bursting due to high pressure on Coedmore Avenue. Cele has suffered a great loss in property damage as a result of the problem which he said has been ongoing for five years. His fence is the latest portion of his home to suffer damage.
“This has caused a threat to my security. I’ve had break-ins over the years, what if I was to say that this is caused by the city’s negligence? A lot of the pipes and drainage infrastructure in the area is old, causing damage to roads and residents’ properties. I have reported this issue countless times via phone calls and emails but nothing has happened. Whenever municipal workers or contractors come to assess the problem, they never completely resolve it,” he said, adding that the entire issue makes him feel disrespected by the municipality that is meant to serve him as a citizen.
He explained that the most recent burst, however, was caused by a contractor who had been installing optic fibre cables on the side of the road.
“The already problematic water pipe was left exposed and it was only after my complaint a week ago that workers came back to conceal it. Contractors also left the place in a mess, leaving behind rubble and other discarded materials outside my home. This will further wash into my yard should there be heavy rains.
“In the past there was a well-constructed water channel here that had been working properly years before a separate municipal job needed to be done along Coedmore Avenue. From then the entire water system was changed and has resulted in the challenges we’re faced with today as residents. It was claimed that this was supposed to be a temporary structure but it ended up being permanent and it keeps getting damaged,” said a frustrated Cele who has been living in the area for 13 years. He is one of many residents in the area who have experienced similar inconveniences with water pipe and drainage system issues.
eThekwini spokesperson, Msawakhe Mayisela said plans were in place to gradually rehabilitate all infrastructure. “In recent history, R2.1bn had been spent on water pipe replacement, another R2.1bn on the large aqueducts, R3bn on community ablution blocks, and R2bn on water treatment upgrades.
“The city is looking at pipe replacement programmes for different parts of the municipality, but these cannot be implemented all at once due to budget constraints. Pipe replacement projects are split into zones and priority is based on factors like pipe age, frequency of bursting, and residual pressures in the system.
“Our biggest challenge remains illegal connections and the blocking of sewers with foreign objects. These are issues the city is working to resolve with speed. Compounding our woes are incidents where alien objects continue to enter our sanitation system. Material that is not compatible with our sanitation system is used to the detriment of our infrastructure,” he said adding that the community could help by treating its facilities with care.
