Taps dry in Britstown

RESIDENTS in Britstown have been without a water supply since last week.

They complained that they were unable to wash their hands during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Many are unable to afford to buy bottled water.”

A father indicated that he had to bathe his son in a bucket as the water is coming out of the taps in “dribs and drabs” at certain times of the day.

“The municipality did not give us any explanations or tell us for how long Britstown will be without water. It appears as if the only pump that was working is out of order.”

Emthanjeni municipal manager Isak Visser explained that the reservoir levels were affected by the recent load shedding.

“As a result, we were struggling to fill up the reservoirs as the water pressure was extremely low,” said Visser.

“The problem is nearly fixed and the reservoirs are receiving water. However, we cannot provide time frames at this stage. We can confirm that there is water currently running in the network and in use by residents. Unfortunately, this causes slow progress in filling up the reservoirs. Nonetheless, we are hoping that the reservoirs will reach adequate water levels to sustain the town adequately.”

Visser added that the municipality had communicated to residents about the state of the water with the use of a loud hailer and bakkie on October 12.

“This communication was carried out for the week. Unfortunately, the bakkie is giving us problems and therefore we are not able to utilise it at the moment. We are typing the ‘knock and drop letters’ to distribute to all residents, including businesses.”

Visser said that a municipal team collected an additional pump to fit into an existing borehole.

“We were successful and as a result, two additional boreholes were activated on Tuesday. Out of the two boreholes, one borehole was activated by equipping it with the new pump collected in De Aar. The other borehole was previously vandalised and the municipality managed to repair it.”

He added that a new pump was commissioned. “It has been up and running since Wednesday.

“Water is available but the supply is rotated amongst the residential areas. Due to low water levels, we are unable to supply all areas at the same time. All areas are equally affected.”