“We are back – the teams are back on site and everything’s back to normal,” Amatola Water’s Chris Nair told Grocott’s Mail this morning, Saturday 28 June. “Amatola is officially back in Makana.”
“We are back – the teams are back on site and everything’s back to normal,” Amatola Water’s Chris Nair told Grocott’s Mail this morning, Saturday 28 June. “Amatola is officially back in Makana.”
The announcement, also posted on social media, came as a relief for residents in high-lying areas served by the Waainek plant, who have been without water since Wednesday.
Amatola area operations manager Chris Nair announced on Thursday 26 June that the team which has been fixing the town's water supply since December 2013 was asked by the company to pull out on Friday morning 27 June.
He told Grocott’s Mail in a telephone interview on Thursday that Amatola would no longer manage the plants and the bulk water supply to the city.
Nair said that because of the sensitive nature of the situation he was not prepared to comment on the reasons. This morning he told Grocott’s Mail they had returned on the instruction of Amatola management. He said he could not confirm whether Thursday’s shock move, a week ahead of the Festival, had been over a disagreement over payment by the municipality for Amatola’s services.
This morning Nair said the reservoirs were full and that this week’s water outages might be due to airlocks in the lines.
“I have personally contacted Ntombi from Makana and Peter from MBB to check the reticulation and possible air locks on the lines,” he said in a Facebook post shared with Grahamstown residents.
“Update on the bulk water supply Saturday 28 June: Waainek WTW is operating using the lay dam as Makana electricians are installing breakers on the overhead electrical lines supplying Howieson’s Poort pumpstation. Demand from Waainek is 85 litres per second. All reservoirs are above 95% as at 09h30 this morning. I'm quite sure the problem will be sorted out swiftly,” Nair posted.
Areas affected include Glastonbury Road, Kettlewell Road, Southey Street, Seymour Street, Miles Street; West Hill and Currie Park.
