Large sections of Grahamstown East were without water on Friday 9 January after a storm on Thursday night damaged equipment at the James Kleynhans pump station.
Large sections of Grahamstown East were without water on Friday 9 January after a storm on Thursday night damaged equipment at the James Kleynhans pump station.
“When we woke up on Friday there was no water. It stayed off all day,” said Nomfundo Lukwe, who lives in Phumlani.
“By the time we woke up on Saturday (10 January) it was back.”
Municipal spokesperson Yoliswa Ramokolo said lightning during an electrical storm on Thursday night the lighting arrester protecting the electrical panels controlling pumps at the James Kleynhans water treatment works was activated, cutting power to the pumps.
James Kleynhans treats and pumps water from Glen Melville dam, 15km north-east of Grahamstown on the Fort Beaufort road. It feeds water into the Botha’s Hill reservoir, 10km from town on the same road.
While technicians had repaired the fault by 9.30am on Friday, it took all day for the Botha’s Hill reservoir to fill up again.
“Unlike the storage dams at the Waainek treatment works, Botha’s Hill has relatively little capacity,” Ramokolo told Grocott’s Mail.
“It takes two or three hours for the Botha’s hill reservoir to empty, but all day for it to fill up again.”
She said water was restored to the affected areas by 9pm on Friday.
According to a post on the MobiSam Facebook site the storm also caused electrical outages in Dr Jacob Zuma Drive.
sue@grocotts.co.za
