Villagers left high and dry
WATER: MUNICIPALITY SAYS THE TREATMENT WORKS ARE OPERATING AT FULL CAPACITY
Community leader says residents have been seeking answers for five years.
You have to chase cows first then wait for the water to clear.
Nomonde Mvakalisi Ngquma village resident
Taps have been dry for five years in Ngquma village in Peddie in the Eastern Cape, and residents have lost hope of getting clean water from the Amathole District Municipality.
Villagers fetch their water from the nearby river where animals drink.
The municipality says the water treatment works which supply the area are operating at full capacity.
Spokesperson Nonceba Vuso said the water supply scheme had been designed to supply the community with 25 litres per person per day from communal standpipes, but illegal connections to the network had strained supply.
However, community members said 25 litres per person per
day was never enough.
They said they had lost hope of ever getting clean water in their area.
Community leader Thobile Mvabaza said for the past five years residents had been seeking answers from the municipality and their ward councillor without success.
Mvabaza said at first the municipality blamed the drought. But even after rain there was no water. Then the municipality said the pipes transporting water to the village often get broken and as a result the village did not get water even after rain.
“What we do not understand is why the old pipes are not changed?” said Mvabaza.
Instead, he said, the municipality kept patching old pipes which burst a few days after repairs.
“If we are lucky we will get water for an hour on the day the pipe is fixed, then we will be back to square one, fighting with animals to get water,” he said.
The river is 800 metres away from the village and this is a distance most community members walk carrying 20-litre buckets on their heads.