Pipe bursts annoy Arena Park residents
WITH the persistent drought affecting the country, saving water should be everyone’s responsibility.
But residents of Arena Park, in Chatsworth, say they find it difficult to conserve water when municipal water pipes continue to burst.
They have blamed the municipality for failing to implement a proper water-restriction programme saying that, instead, it has caused major water loss.
The residents claim they have had at least four pipes burst on the same main pipe, which has inconvenienced them because it has taken so long to be repaired.
Residents maintain that the pipes are further damaged by the thrust of the pressure when the water supply is restored in the evenings.
The disgruntled group, which approached City Watch, condemned the municipality for poor workmanship in installing the water restrictors.
They said recurring pipe bursts would have been avoided if the municipality had appointed better qualified personnel to fix the pipes.
A resident, Sean Rajcoomar, said the water savings that the shutdowns were hoping to achieve were being lost.
“It seems as if the existing asbestos piping has run its course and needs to be replaced rather than being repaired regularly,” said Rajcoomar.
“Although the repair work is carried out using PVC pipes, it is not long before the asbestos gives way just a few feet up the road,” he said.
Another resident, Selvin Moodley, said the persistently bursting pipe was causing major damage to geysers.
Moodley said they discovered that most water meters began leaking soon after the restrictors were fitted.
“Our main pipe is 45 years old. We never experienced this bursting problem until the restrictors were imposed on our meters.
“The service providers seem like they lacked skills to do it properly.
“We support the initiative of saving water but it is very sad to see water streaming down the road like a river every week.
“We assume this is a result of poor service from the contractor,” he said.
“Let’s not waste resources by creating more problems which can be avoided.
“Water restrictions are needed but this should be done in a proper manner with qualified people,” said Moodley.
Rovic Kamalnarain said many communities were experiencing the same problem and appealed to the municipality to explore other ways of saving water, or do restrictions properly.
He said it seemed as though the restrictors had caused more water loss than saving.
“They take almost half a day to respond to a water leak complaint, and it’s worse if the pipe bursts at midnight. They fix the pipe today and tomorrow it bursts again.
“We are trying to do our bit to conserve water, but we need the municipality to offer better services to save money and water,” he said.
City spokesperson Tozi Mthethwa said they were aware of the problems caused by water restrictors.
“We have installed pressure reducing valves in the systems in order to reduce pressure to prevent bursts, which have been successful.”