The Buffalo City Metro (BCM) and Amatola Water maintenance teams have been hard at work repairing several damaged water pipelines which led to persistent water outages affecting many areas in the Buffalo City region recently.
The Amatola Water maintenance team completed repairing the Craighead Raw Water Pump Station on Wednesday, 6 August.
The maintenance work included fixing three water pipelines affecting the supply of water to Peddie and Tsholomnqa villages.
There was a major burst on a main pipeline supplying water from the Umzonyana Water Treatment Works, which impacted water inflow into several reservoirs that serve the broader East London area.
The damaged water pipeline resulted in several East London areas experiencing water outages.
Some of the areas affected included Scenery Park, Amalinda, Gompo, Duncan Village, Vincent, Beacon Bay, and Gonubie.
BCM spokesperson Bongani Fuzile said the Metro’s water maintenance team is currently on-site, working day and night carrying out necessary repairs.
The Metro has assured affected residents that all efforts are being made to restore full water supply as soon as possible.
“Due to challenging site conditions and the size of the pipeline, we are unable to provide an estimated time for the full completion at this stage,” said Fuzile.
A recently damaged pipeline has caused water outages affecting Ntabozuko and surrounding rural areas, and the Amatola Water maintenance team was still busy fixing the pipeline.
Since the start of this year, Buffalo City residents have been frustrated by the persistent water outages in all three Metro regions, including coastal, midland, and inland areas.
Theft and vandalism of water infrastructure have contributed immensely to the continued water outages in BCM.
Earlier this year, the Metro’s safety and security cluster led by the police started raid operations targeting several scrap metal dealerships following a spate of theft and vandalism of water infrastructure.
