Battle to repair main water pipe bursts Cuts leave residents desperate
ANOTHER major water crisis hit Buffalo City Metro (BCM) residents yesterday when a main water pipe was cut by a series of bursts.
This seriously reduced water supply to Mdantsane and residents on the coast west of East London.
The possibility of water outages overnight was high, and getting the pipe fixed and enough water into reservoirs to supply the people and institutions was estimated at noon today or longer.
BCM water supply services programme manager Luthando Mqwabalala said: “Maintenance teams are on site to do the repairs, but it may take more than 12 hours to complete the repair due to the size of the water main and difficult site conditions, which are worsened by izinyoka (dangerous illegal power wires).”
After a sudden and alarming announcement of the impending crisis at noon yesterday, BCM’s communications division fell silent and no further information was provided. E-mails and calls were not answered or calls were cut off.
However, 6 200 Facebook readers saw the Dispatch online report.
Comments flowed such as: “It’s going to be a rough time”, “Jeez, are we going to be stinking now that we can’t use water!”, “I am moving to Cambridge” and “They must fix those pipes.”
BCM said the major bursts hit the pumping main (pressurised pipe) supplying Mdantsane’s network of reservoirs which feed the area.
Mqwabalala said reserves were running “critically low” and hardly any water could be pumped into them to keep the flow going.
Mqwabalala said: “We have a major pipe burst on the pumping main from Umzonyana [water treatment works] to Mdantsane Outspan Reservoirs and Bulk Pump Station for Mdantsane.
“This burst pipe has significantly reduced the bulk water supply to Mdantsane, as a result the distribution reservoirs are critically low, which may lead to water interruptions in some of the areas, especially the highlying areas.
“This may affect Ilitha, Needs Camp, and Ncera villages up to Kayser’s Beach as Amatola Water are currently sending all the water to Mdantsane,” he said.
The public was requested to use water sparingly “during this period to avoid water outages”. — mikel@dispatch.co.za MDANTSANE residents, including two schools and a police station in NU3, are among those without water because of a burst water pipe.
Sinethemba senior secondary and LM Yako Junior Primary schools, the Railway police station and Masibambane settlement residents’ taps have been without water since Friday.
Desperate residents like Zuziwe Mangesana, 64, were fetching water from neighbouring areas on their heads and wheelbarrows.
She told the Daily Dispatch yesterday that her tap has been dry since Thursday.
“I am a diabetic and I constantly need to be drinking water but our taps have run dry and it has become a mission to get hold of water in our area.
“I am living with two grandchildren who are at school most of the time and have nobody to send,” she said.
As has been the case in Mnquma, where a new breed of entrepreneurs emerged, some Mdantsane residents are charging the elderly up to R7 to fetch 20 litres of water from neighbouring areas.
Babalwa Mangameli said she waited the whole day on Monday and yesterday for municipal water trucks to deliver to her area.
“We see them driving afar, seemingly delivering to other areas, but they don’t go down our street.”
Amanda Mputa said she was among the residents who collected water from Mzomhle High School.
“We can only collect in the afternoon and early morning because during the day the school gate is locked and we can’t access the water, and also we don’t want to be disruptive at the school,” she said. —