The City of Tshwane has come under fire from angry residents in Sunnyside and surrounding areas for its week-long turnaround time to restore water supply to their households following a burst pipe on Sunday.
The City said it had provided roving water tankers to alleviate the problem, but some residents were disappointed after they were informed on Tuesday that the water supply was likely to be restored only by Friday.
They took to social media to share their plight without running water and its negative impact on their daily lives.
One resident expressed concern that children were forced to bunk school due to the lack of water.,“Kids are not going to school and toilets are not flushed and you don't see the urgency of this,” the person posted on a social media platform.
Others said the City didn't appear to be taking the matter seriously. One person wondered why it should take five days to replace less than a kilometre of pipe, pointing out that in Japan and China it would have taken just hours to fix the problem.
Municipal spokesperson, Lindela Mashigo, said the affected areas were Sunnyside, Arcadia and South of the Pretoria CBD, including Jacaranda Hospital, Heart Hospital, Muelmed Hospital and the Pretoria Eye Institute.
Mashigo said a municipal team of technicians had managed to successfully expose the 1000mm damaged pipe.
“Unfortunately, the said pipe that requires repair work is closely located to a 700mm pipe. This compels the team to complete the trenching through manual digging to avoid damaging the adjacent 700mm pipe,” he said.
He said as soon as the trenching was completed, the contractor would dismantle the pipe to take accurate measurements for replacement, and added:“Supply chain processes are already under way to source the required material for repair work.”
On Sunday, he said, the city was compelled to partially shut down water supply to Sunnyside and nearby areas following a 1000mm pipe burst at Thabo Sehume Street, next to the Gautrain bridge.
“This resulted in low pressure to no water in the higher lying areas which are supplied from this pipeline,” he said.
According to him, the City dispatched water tankers to deliver water to affected consumers, which included healthcare facilities.
He apologised for the inconvenience caused by this unplanned water supply interruption, and promised that updates would be communicated to the affected consumers.
“As and when the need for water arises, the city will provide additional water tankers,” Mashigo said.
Pretoria News