Kimberley residents and business owners were once again urged to prepare for more water shutdowns, without any warning, “before the end of November”.
This follows yet another water shutdown in the Northern Cape capital. The water was shut off on Saturday, 14 October, at about 10:00, and most areas only had water again on the morning of Tuesday, 17 October.
“But it was off early, and on Wednesday, 18 October, there was no water available,” stated Dudley Dally, president of the Northern Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Nocci).
He said there were no straightforward answers on this from the Sol Plaatje Municipality, “with ratepayers being kept in the dark”.
Reasons provided by the municipality vary from a high demand of water due to the heat wave to faulty valves, exhausted filter sand at the Riverton Water Purification Plant (WPP), a shortage of chemicals to purify water, only two of the high-lift pumps being in use, challenges with a transformer, and main pipelines experiencing more leaks.
Dally said there were still 25 major leaks on the 600 mm and 965 mm pipelines that needed to be repaired, with the major leaks on the 600 mm pipeline still draining into Kamfersdam, with sewage overflow.
In 2013 a contractor who was fixing leaks on this line strongly recommended that this length of pipe be replaced urgently.
“This is the pipe that is being repaired every year,” Dally said.
Furthermore, at the Newton reservoirs there are only two pumps in operation, with the other four “nowhere to be found”, and with the remaining pumps leaking, “it is a disaster waiting to happen”.
The municipality received a R2,5 billion grant from the National Treasury for the complete repairing and upgrading of the water supply system to Kimberley.
The first shutdown had to be executed in order for the municipality to receive the first R500 million for the repairs.
Of this, there are still plenty of projects to be completed, such as the installation of flow meters along the pipelines, and the repairing of leaks.
In a press release, Kobus van den Berg of the VF Plus stated the municipality admitted at the launch of an engineering report on 19 October that the Riverton WPP – built around the 1960s – cannot keep up with the water demand.
“Residents must make plans to store water for drinking, and to use water sparingly; another example where civilians have to step in where government institutions failed,” Van den Berg said.
