GQEBERHA – Nelson Mandela Bay’s water distribution system allegedly started recovering after a weekend marked by a major bulk water pipeline failure and electricity outages that severely disrupted supply across large parts of the metro.
According to the municipality, the 500 mm Motherwell–Chelsea bulk water main burst on Thursday, 16 July, leaving several reservoirs depleted and causing widespread low water pressure and outages throughout Saturday, 18 July.
While repair work continued, the situation worsened on Sunday, 19 July, when power outages affected critical water infrastructure, including the Loerie Water Treatment Works, Stanford Pump Station and Chelsea–Seaview infrastructure, further delaying recovery.
By Monday, 20 July, the municipality confirmed that the damaged 500 mm pipeline had been repaired and remained isolated while final works were completed.
“The parallel 700 mm Motherwell–Chelsea bulk water main, which was initially isolated because of its interconnection with the damaged pipeline, has been successfully reactivated,” they claimed.
The municipality said encouraging improvements have been recorded at the End Street, Chatty, Bloemendal and Bethelsdorp reservoirs, which are key to restoring supply to the areas hardest hit by the pipeline burst.
Despite the progress, recovery remains uneven across the network.
The Chelsea Reservoir remains at just 9%, while the Greenbushes Reservoir is at 10%, meaning higher-lying areas supplied by these systems continue to experience low pressure or intermittent water supply. Gelvandale and Struandale are also still experiencing secondary impacts from the pipeline failure and Sunday’s electricity outages, although operational rezoning has enabled some communities to receive water from the Nooitgedacht system.
Most low-lying areas supplied by the Chatty, End Street, Bloemendal and Bethelsdorp systems now allegedly have water, with supply to higher-lying areas expected to improve progressively as reservoir levels continue to recover.
The municipality claimed the Lovemore Heights, Heatherbank, Upper Lovemore, Motherwell, Bluewater Bay, Wells Estate, Van Riebeeckhoogte, Fairbridge Heights, KwaNobuhle and several other supply zones are currently stable.
Municipal teams are allegedly continuing to finalise work on the repaired bulk pipeline, optimise production at water treatment works, rezone water where possible and deploy water tankers to affected communities while the system stabilises.
The municipality has warned that secondary-affected areas will continue recovering over the coming days as reservoir levels improve and normal supply is gradually restored.
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