Residents waiting for water trucks after being hit by water outage. Picture: File
Illegal connections to the reservoir supplying water to Mabopane residents and contractors hired by the City of Tshwane have been blamed for water outages in the area for the past few months.
Residents have raised concerns about water supply interruptions to the municipality.
According to the City, the water problem was caused by damage to the infrastructure on work done by previous contractors that has been exacerbated by illegal connections to the reservoirs.
As a result of the supply interruptions, the City said, reservoir level has been critically low for the past few months.
The problem caused ongoing challenges in the Mabopane high-lying areas, affecting parts of Block A,D, M, S, V, R and T located under Odi hospital and Klipgat reservoir zone.
Yesterday, the City assured residents that it was working diligently to boost water supply in Block B1 and parts of Block A in the township to address the problem.
“As part of the solution a 350 mm A/C pipe that was mistakenly decommissioned during the construction of the storm water system in Sun Valley is being reconnected. This pipeline stretches from Mabopane reservoir to Block A and Block B,”said the municipality in a statement.
The City said the reconnection process was currently 90% complete and the final step was to link the 350 mm A/C pipe to the existing reticulation of Block A and B.
“While the reconnection process is under way the City has dispatched water tankers to the affected areas to provide temporary relief. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by the water supply outage and assure you that we are working hard to repair the problem as quickly as possible,”the City said.
Residents were, however, told that the reconnection of 350 mm A/C pipe will not automatically bring about water supply restoration as the illegal connection prevents the reservoir from filling up.
“For the reservoir to receive water, reservoir levels should improve considerably,” the City said.
Technicians from the regional Water and Sanitation Department were working hard in collaboration with other role players to deal with illegal connection to the network which hampers the filling of the reservoir.
Pretoria News
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