GQEBERHA – Nearly two months after heavy rains replenished Nelson Mandela Bay’s dams, many residents continue to endure water outages as failures within the metro’s distribution network prevent the system from returning to normal.

Just a day after the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality said most recent infrastructure failures had been resolved, Tuesday, 7 June’s update confirmed that large parts of the metro are still experiencing low water pressure and intermittent supply as several strategic reservoirs remain critically low.

According to a municipal statement, the Chelsea Reservoir, which supplies many western suburbs, remains under severe pressure because of high demand, leaving many consumers with low water pressure or no water.

The municipality also warned that the Emerald Hill, Heatherbank, Lovemore Heights and Upper Lovemore supply zones are expected to take more than two days to recover. It attributed the delays to intermittent pumping at Schonnies, caused by reduced water availability in the Churchill pipeline.

Supply also remains constrained in the Airport, Driftsands and Greenbushes zones, while residents in higher-lying areas such as St Albans continue to experience disruptions.

Communities supplied by the Gelvandale and Struandale system, including Zwide, KwaZakhele, New Brighton, Missionvale and Algoa Park, continue to experience sporadic interruptions because of sustained demand on the network.

In contrast, the municipality said water supply has stabilised in the Chatty, Reservoir Hills, Bloemendal, Motherwell, Wells Estate, Bluewater Bay, Fairbridge Heights and Van Riebeeck Hoogte areas.

The Rosedale, Kabah and Mountain View system has also stabilised following improvements at the water treatment works, although the municipality cautioned that the integrated nature of the metro’s distribution network means these areas remain vulnerable to further disruptions.

In KwaNobuhle, all reservoirs have recovered except Reservoir 2, which remains empty, leaving consumers supplied by that reservoir without reliable water.

The municipality also reported a new setback in Colchester, where a water leak left the local reservoir at critically low levels. Repair work was expected to begin immediately after the reservoir was isolated.

Tuesday’s update follows Monday’s assurance that most recent infrastructure failures had been resolved. However, reservoir levels remain critically low in several parts of the metro, including Airport (7%), Chelsea (8%), Emerald Hill (8%), Malabar (10%) and Greenbushes (14%). Heatherbank, Lovemore Heights, Upper Tank, Rosedale and KwaNobuhle Reservoir 2 remain empty.

The municipality said operational teams continue to deploy water tankers, optimise pumping operations and monitor reservoir levels while appealing to residents to use water sparingly as efforts continue to stabilise the network.

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