Water outages have again struck Grahamstown, affecting parts of the city, Rhodes University and the townships. In some areas Friday 4 October marked two weeks of dry taps.
Water outages have again struck Grahamstown, affecting parts of the city, Rhodes University and the townships. In some areas Friday 4 October marked two weeks of dry taps.
Grocott's Mail's visit on Tuesday to the Howieson's Poort pump station, which officials had named as a cause of the outages, was inconclusive. The team was not allowed inside the structure housing the pump.
However, the level of the dam was very low.
Video: Klaudija Antolič
This week trucks were delivering water in some parts of the city, but township residents complained that they were being left high and dry.
Makana Municipality's infrastructure and engineering director Thembinkosi Myalato told Grocott's Mail on Tuesday 1 October that the ageing pump motor – around 50 years in service – had been taken to Johannesburg to be refurbished.
"The motor was taken to a service provider in Joburg because it was faulty. We also wanted that service provider to come and install it as a guarantee, so that they can be liable when something goes wrong," said Myalato. He said the process of bringing water to people's houses would take time because the intermediate reservoirs needed to be refilled before water could be piped on into private residences.
Municipal spokesperson Mncedisi Boma was unavailable to comment on the outages on Thursday 3 October, as he was on his way to a meeting with the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry and Amatola Water to discuss possible interventions.
