Residents angry at delays in fixing burst pipes

WHILE city officials plan to punish water- wasters with fines and price hikes, residents are angered at the delays in fixing burst pipes.

One local resident, Mehboob Bawa, waited hours this week for city officials to finally fix a burst pipe at his family home. He said they were “running back and forth with buckets trying to save the water in the early hours of the morning”.

“Our water meter was stolen and the pipes cut by the vandals. I couldn’t get to the stop cork. It has everything to do with the municipality as they advise you not to touch the meter or related parts and report immediately to them,” said Bawa.

When municipal workers eventually arrived at his home they were “not well prepared for the task at hand”.

“They asked me for a hammer, screwdriver and torch. Eventually they had to resort to turning off the water supply in the entire road, then returned to my property and struggled to turn off my supply,” said Bawa.

“There was endless hammering away with various tools not designed for the particular exercise. When they finally achieved their desired outcome, I was then told the plumber would arrive sometime between 10am and 9pm the next day.”

Bawa felt the matter should have been resolved sooner but resulted in “unnecessary wastage of a precious resource and we can ill-afford it”.

Wonita Petersen said she had a “similar situation” on the pavement outside her house. “I called the City while the water was gushing out, only for them to come out almost 48 hours later”.

Councillor Xanthea Limberg, City mayoral committee member for water services, said their response teams should “attend to a service request… within two hours”.

“Sometimes, it takes longer, such as if traffic must be rerouted or private vehicles moved which are over the infrastructure concerned.”