In September Ntshebele reported about the unfortunate water disruptions in Lephalale town, Marapong and Onverwacht, which left and still leaves residents desperate, frustrated and hopeless. Following an article published in our September edition, residents continue to face challenges with constant water disruptions and the municipality has been issuing statements of notification and apologies.
From the 11th of October to Tuesday, the 19th of November, the municipality issued over 20 Facebook posts acknowledging unplanned water disruptions. This includes a burst pipe in Marapong, which left some residents without water for over a week. Some of these residents had to rent vehicles to transport them to the Exxaro premises and other nearby areas to fetch water while others traveled to Onverwacht and town for water. They complained that the water truck was not reaching their households.
The municipality issued this statement on the Facebook page which read that “The technicians confirmed to the Mayor that water supply in most areas of Marapong Township has been restored. Consumers will gradually experience slow paced improvement considering the fact that the system was very dry for a long period. The Municipality will still continue with the supply of water utilizing water trucks as a temporary solution until water is fully restored in all areas.
Marapong residents are informed that as part of the intervention, water supply will be closed at 21:00-05:00 until the water level is stabilized.”
Lephalale Town and Onverwacht also had unplanned water disruption, in town the ordeal would occur at least twice in two weeks, each week residents not having running water for 5 days respectively.
Some parts of Onverwacht did not have running water for over 3 days this week due to the cross-tee connection on the new pipeline that the municipality said kicked-off at the corner of Snuifpeel and Walter Sisulu Drive. “Water supply has been interrupted, and some parts of Onverwacht will not have water until the reconnection process is completed. The contractor responsible for the pipe replacement is currently reconnecting the bypass line in Onverwacht and replacing the remaining AC water pipeline.
The contractor is left with only 500 meters of the 200mm water pipe to be cracked and to replace the old asbestos pipe with the new HDPE pipe. It is anticipated that this process will be completed on 19 November. Upon completion of this section water will be restored.”; reads the municipality’s statement on Facebook.
The Replacement of AC Pipes at Lephalale Town (CBD) is a project that has been running for 11 months. It commenced on the 10th of November 2023 and is expected to be completed on the 07th of October 2024. The municipality indicated that there are three projects of similar nature taking place at the same time which are Replacement of AC Pipes at Lephalale Town (CBD), Replacement of AC Pipes at Lephalale Town (Residential) and Replacement of AC Pipes at Onverwacht Section B.
“Replacement of AC pipes in other areas will be done upon completion of these three areas.
Areas still to be covered are Onverwacht Sections A and C, Marapong Sections A and B”, said the municipality when questioned by Ntshebele in September 2024.
In the second week of November residents at Kerk street sent an email to the municipality looking for answers. The subject matter was an urgent request for immediate restoration of water services and inquiry on accountability measures. An excerpt from the email read as follows: “We are writing to express our profound concern regarding the continued and severe disruptions of our water supply. This matter has caused significant suffering and poses an ongoing risk to our health and well-being. Despite multiple reports and appeals for action, the issues persist, highlighting failures and inefficiencies that require immediate redress.”.
Some of the issues raised in the email, amongst others were; Current Issues and Impacts (Prolonged Water Outages) Health Risks Economic Burden Safety Concerns that exposes residents to the risks of mugging, physical attack and hijacking while looking for water outside their residence.
They further advocated for the blacklisting of any contractor found to be incompetent or negligent in their duties.
Lephalale Municipality indicted that that the following were put in place in order to avoid the recurrence of constant disruptions.
The Contractor will only be allowed to crack pipes in small quantities for replacement of medium diameter pipes ranging from 150mm- 300mm at 100-200 meters intervals and make it live rather than cracking large portion which leads to inadequate water pressure to supply the residents.
The Contractor will consult with the resident engineer and the project managers from the Municipality to determine the optimal length for a specific section of pipeline to be replaced.
The Contractor must ensure proper planning prior to commencing with work in order to ensure adequate allocation of resources such as materials, additional equipment and personnel to ensure a successful replacement process.
The Contractor will pressure test the pipeline and immediately inspect the leaks or damages upon completion of every section to avoid disruption of water supply to the community.
The resident engineer and project managers will conduct a final inspection of the pipeline to ensure that it meets the specifications.
It is unknown so far, as to how many litres of water the municipality loses into the ground as a result of pipe bursts.