“The Sol Plaatje Municipality at last managed to get rid of all the water leaks all over the city – by keeping the pipelines dry.”
This is one of many comments on the ever-looming water crisis in Kimberley.
Another resident says he wishes the excuses from the municipality can dry up as quickly as the water supply.
The latest unplanned and emergency water shutdown in Kimberley amidst a heat wave caught residents off-guard, as it was only announced after the water supply had been cut.
There was no time “to prepare” for an interruption in water supply.
Since the previous water shutdown, low water pressure was experienced in many parts of Kimberley during the day, with continued nightly water shutdowns – resulting in a scarcity of water even before the latest shutdown.
Residents are subjected to nightly water shutdowns for the Newton reservoirs to be filled, with desired levels seldom reached. Reasons for this vary; some of these are huge water leaks in the bulk supply lines, and faulty and aged mechanisms at the Riverton Water Treatment Plant.
Despite many water shutdowns in the past to repair major leaks, or to do the repairing, replacing, or cleaning of parts, it does not seem to be making a difference. It is also known that sometimes the same leaks are “fixed” repeatedly.
“Why is there no accountability for these shambles?” a resident asked.
Daily interruptions continuing
On Tuesday, 21 November, the municipality announced that a water supply interruption would commence at 16:00 – while water was already not available in big parts of the city.
In this announcement Thabo Mothibi, municipal communications manager, stated a joint assessment of the bulk water supply pipeline from Riverton to the Newton reservoirs had been done with Ekapa Mine by flying a drone, and that leaks were discovered on Monday, 20 November. It was said a drone was needed as the full stretch of the pipeline could not be reached by vehicle.
“All attempts will be undertaken to restore full supply of water by Wednesday, 22 November,” it was stated.
A week later, and the supply was not restored and still very unstable.
By time of going to press on Tuesday, 28 November, an announcement was received of water interruptions daily from 13:00 to 16:00 until Saturday, with supply to be restored “between 16:00 and 19:00”.
However, a “nightly water interruption will remain in effect from 19:00 until 05:00”, the announcement stated.
“What does this even mean?” a frustrated resident asked.
“In the area where I am living, we are some of the last to receive water. By the time of the first interruption, we have only received ten drops of water, and then the daily interruption continues into the nightly shutdown.”
Municipality not prepared
Following the discovery of two major leaks on the 900 mm pipeline at Sunset Manor, and at a cross-section of the 900 mm and 600 mm at the Midlands pipeline in the vicinity of Roodepan, the municipality called on residents with trucks or bakkies to assist with the delivery of water to various wards.
This announcement around 12:00 on Thursday stated it was in an effort to enforce immediate and sufficient water supply. Water was to be sourced from Riverton and transported to the various wards.
But on Wednesday it was stated that water tankers and lowbed trucks had been deployed to all 31 wards and “will be roving within each ward”.
At a news conference on Friday, 24 November, municipal manager Thapelo Matlala indicated as this was an emergency shutdown, and the municipality could not prepare properly to provide for alternative supply.
At the same conference executive mayor Kagisho Sonyoni said this shutdown had been unavoidable due to water losses, which also lead to nightly water shutdowns.
“Water problem is not an accident”
The premier of the Northern Cape, Dr Zamani Saul, said this week at a function that the “water problem is not an accident in this mining town”. The infrastructure network was planned for 12 000 households, and today 72 000 households are connected on the same bulk infrastructure. He then suggested that major improvements to better the capacity of the bulk infrastructure should have already commenced in 1994.
At the same event the vice-chancellor and principal of the Sol Plaatje University (SPU), Prof. Andrew Crouch, said the university had already spent hundreds of millions on the infrastructure, and supported the municipality wherever possible. Crouch mentioned that boreholes would be sunk on university grounds, while the SPU has reservoirs on its campuses with 4 500 students and 600 personnel.
Referring to the more than R2 billion allocated by the National Treasury to the municipality to improve water and sanitation services, Matlala said this five-year plan consisted of an emergency, medium- and long-term phase.
“We are in the emergency phase,” he said, explaining the reason for the focus being on repairing leaks.
According to him the next phase would be entered into during the coming financial year.
Matlala said for future phases, planned shutdowns could be expected in the effort to ensure reliable quality water supply.
