Water trickles back

By the end of yesterday, nine water trucks were to have been put into service in Grahamstown for residents of the town’s eastern areas, who had no water supply for three days following an event at the water treatment works last weekend.

A series of setbacks interrupted the water supply to Grahamstown West as well; however, reports yesterday from Makana Municipality suggested that round-the-clock work to stabilise the supply across the town had paid off.

The problem emerged on Sunday when an employee at the James Kleynhans water treatment works primarily servicing eastern Grahamstown arrived at work to find all three main water pumps, as well as five others that form part of the treatment processes submerged.

Makana Municipality recruited assistance from government and private agencies and neighbouring municipalities, ordering water tankers for residents in Transit Camp, Mayfield, Extension 1-10, Joza Street, Vukani Upper, Xolani, Tantyi and Mary Waters, Fingo Village, Lower Makana’s Kop, Newtown, KwaNdancama, Ghost Town and Hooggenoeg, where taps were dry from 8am on Sunday.

The city’s overall recovery plan was slowed by a power outage at Waainek in the early hours of Tuesday affecting the Howieson’s Poort pump station feeding the western reservoirs. It took 24 hours before water could be released to the west of Grahamstown.

A broken valve in the CBD on Wednesday night also meant dry taps there for 12 hours.

And there was bad news for the other side of town yesterday morning as a leak at James Kleynhans started flooding the pump station again. However, the water was quickly drained, the leak repaired and all three pumps there were running by 4pm.

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