Residents of Macassar Beach, Kramat and Sandvlei faced up to three days of water outages after a series of technical failures and safety concerns hampered repair efforts on a major water main.
What began as a standard repair for a burst pipe turned into a frustrating ordeal for the community, as the City of Cape Town’s Water and Sanitation Directorate battled to stabilise the supply.
The crisis began late last Sunday night (22 February), when a 300 mm diameter water main burst near Kramat Road, causing the local reservoir to run dry. By Monday morning (23 February), taps across the area had slowed to a trickle or stopped entirely.
The repair process had been a series of “one step forward, two steps back”, according to frustrated residents.
According to a City timeline, maintenance teams were on-site by Monday afternoon awaiting a specific adapter coupling. At the time restoration was estimated for 20:00 that day. While repairs were completed by 17:00, the pipe became uncoupled shortly after 18:00, forcing technicians to again shutdown the water supply.
Crews worked into the night, but operations were eventually halted when working conditions became unsafe.
By Tuesday morning (24 February) repairs resumed at first light. On Wednesday the City insisted the situation was resolved despite contradicting claims by the community.
The City clarified that even once the physical repairs to the pipe are finished, residents of higher-lying areas would not have water immediately.
“Once repairs are complete, the reservoir must be filled to at least 40% of its capacity before water can be restored to higher-lying areas,” the City stated.
To mitigate the impact, water tankers were deployed across the affected areas.
“It was an incredibly frustrating experience as the City failed to communicate with us effectively; many people were totally unaware of what the problem was or when water would be restored,” said Sandvlei resident Maryam Salie.
She added that many of Muslim residents were left without water for up to four days during the month of Ramadan.
“The water tankers were also positioned in places not accessible to everyone, especially the elderly who cannot be expected to walk in the heat,” Salie pointed out.
By Wednesday evening the ordeal was finally over for all as residents reported that the water had finally started to “flow”.
Ward 109 councillor Peter Helfrich said in a statement: “Many residents have reported that their water supply has been restored, while others are experiencing low pressure. This is expected during the recovery phase as reservoir levels continue to build and pressure balances across the network… Our teams remain on standby to monitor the system closely.”
