A councillor who has been reporting a leaking intermediate reservoir to the municipality for half a year is appalled that treated water is still being wasted.
A councillor who has been reporting a leaking intermediate reservoir to the municipality for half a year is appalled that treated water is still being wasted.
Grocott's Mail visited the two intermediate reservoirs situated west of the Rhodes Prospect Field on Wednesday with Ward 12 councillor Brian Fargher, where water has been splashing onto the fields around the reservoirs for seven months now.
He said he's tried to alert the municipality to the one leaking reservoir since last October.
When he took a city engineer to the site Fargher said they believed it wasn't working and hence didn't fence it off.
"We came here and I showed one of the engineers and they said 'not this one, it is old and is not working', but there is water in the reservoir," Fargher insisted.
"Do they not take potable water seriously? I have been reporting this since October last year and it is still the same. Now they have jammed in a piece of wood to stop the leak and it is still leaking."
Fargher said he first noticed that a valve had been vandalised at the reservoir in August and reported it, although it wasn't leaking then.
The valve is yet to be replaced and a source within the municipality indicated that they would have to switch the town's water off for half a day to do the job.
The two reservoirs hold seven megalitres of water between them, which is roughly the same amount as three Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Questions sent to municipal spokesperson Mncedisi Boma and Technical and Infrastructure Director Thembinkosi Myalato last Wednesday have not been responded to yet.
