In what is described as “an emergency water interruption due to excessive leaks” scheduled for Kimberley for five days, the city will be without water from the middle of next week, including the weekend, until the Monday evening.
Thoko Riet, communications officer at the Sol Plaatje Municipality, said in a statement the purpose of the scheduled water interruption is to effect repairs to all major leaks on the 965 mm and 600 mm bulk water pipelines, and at the pump station of the Riverton Water Purification Works (WPW), which directly affects the water levels at the reservoirs in the city.
The leak next to the high level pump is threatening the integrity of the new pump station, Riet stated.
The interruption will also present an opportunity to incorporate the repair of major leaks on the water reticulation system.
Leaks on the rising main manifold at the Riverton WPW shall also be repaired, and the cleaning of clarifier number six at the works will also be undertaken.
If time allows, the repair of leaks at the Newton reservoir complex will also be attended to during the scheduled interruption.
At the same time, bulk water meter insertion probes will be installed on the 600 mm and 900 mm bulk pipelines to enable water loss measurements on the bulk water supply.
Poor planning worrisome
During recent oversight inspections, 13 major freshwater leaks were found by DA councillors Ockert Fourie, Chris Whittaker, George Joseph, and Christopher Phiri.
“There are probably many more. This is in addition to the hundreds of medium to small potable water leaks across the city,” Fourie said.
Amongst other, it was found that a water pump and sandbags are being used to mitigate the effect of flooding from an unattended leak at the Riverton Pump Station.
Fourie raised his concern on the apparent poor planning and communication in respect of the shutdown.
“On Monday, a formally scheduled presentation to the utilities committee was postponed because the director of infrastructure and other officials did not show up. On Tuesday, incorrect dates were issued by the municipality to the public, before the dates were clarified,” Fourie said.
“The residents of Kimberley cannot afford any more bumbled communication or poor planning in respect of the shutdown. This was already the cause of the two previous postponements earlier this year.”
The grant funding requires strict adherence to deadlines, for which extensions were already granted.
“Any more delays could see the city forfeit these funds and the opportunity to fix the city’s water network and stop the nightly water shutdowns,” Fourie emphasised.
He said with the R500 million Sol Plaatje investment project, councillors were completely excluded and kept in the dark about expenditure. The end result was no accountability for the expenditure by provincial government departments on the municipal projects.
“We cannot afford a repeat of this expensive flop.”
Minister gives warning
Last week the minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, visited Kimberley and demanded that the problems leading to poor water and sanitation services, be solved.
A work committee, tasked with the solving of these problems, was established during his visit.
Interruption from Wednesday to Monday
- The water interruption will commence on Wednesday, 9 August, at 18:00 until Monday, 14 August, at 23:00.
- “This will provide the municipality with enough time to fully drain the affected pipe sections, undertake the repairs and restore the water supply to all communities,” the statement read.
- Further information regarding the placement of roaming water tankers and water tanks, which will be placed in various wards, will be communicated.
