Water supply has been restored to several parts of Buffalo City as the municipality’s water maintenance team worked around the clock fixing damaged and vandalised water infrastructure which led to persistent water outages in all three Metro regions including coastal, midland and inland areas.
Frustrated residents of Ducats and Nompumelelo township in Beacon Bay recently took to the streets, blocked main roads including the busy N2 and N6 with stones and burning tyres protesting against being without a consistent supply of running water for weeks.
The Metro recently announced that water supply to Ginsberg township in Qonce, the Metro’s inland region, has been finally restored after a water tower in the area was vandalised causing water outages.
BCM mayor Princess Faku’s spokesperson Bongani Fuzile confirmed that the Metro’s maintenance team was deployed in Ginsberg and finally fixed the vandalised water tower on Thursday, May 22.
“We can confirm that the re-commissioning of the Ginsberg tower pumps has been completed. The pumps are currently in operation and the tower is in the process of filling up and there are already reports that the water supply to properties are being restored,” said Fuzile.
In the Metro’s coastal region, the municipality’s maintenance team fixed a 600mm diameter burst water pipeline that left large parts of the Metro’s suburbs experiencing water outages.
The pipeline is supplying water to various affluent areas including Vincent, Amalinda, Beacon Bay, Nahoon, Bunkers Hill and Selborne.
“The maintenance team also completed bleeding the distribution system to remove air from the pipeline. If air is not removed from the pipelines that could cause airlocks and further pipe bursts,” added Fuzile.
Other areas hit hard by water shortages included Mdantsane, Buffalo Flats, Kidds Beach, Kaysers’ Beach, Chalumna and several villages with many without water for weeks.
The Metro’s bulk supplier, Amatola Water constantly experience breakdowns at its pump-stations and therefore unable to pump water from the Nahoon Wastewater Treatment Works to areas including Mdantsane, Potsdam, Fort Jackson and Nxarhuni villages.
