Recovery of the water supply to Grahamstown was started Monday 27 June and while it is expected that the pump station serving mainly the eastern areas of town will be running at normal capacity by late Tuesday 28 June, a problem at the Waainek supply means officials have had to shut off the water to Grahamstown West completely until 5am on Wednesday 29 June.
Recovery of the water supply to Grahamstown was started Monday 27 June and while it is expected that the pump station serving mainly the eastern areas of town will be running at normal capacity by late Tuesday 28 June, a problem at the Waainek supply means officials have had to shut off the water to Grahamstown West completely until 5am on Wednesday 29 June.
The water emergency began on Sunday, June 26. Senior officials from Makana Local Municipality rushed out to the James Kleynhans water treatment works and pump station at Glen Melville Dam after an employee arrived at work in the morning to find the pump station flooded.
The immediate emergency was the supply of water to Grahamstown East, which had no water from 8am on Sunday.
Water tankers were dispatched via the Department of Water and Sanitation to deliver water.
Other agencies coming to Makana's assistance are Amatola Water and the Sarah Baartman District Municipality.
"We are treating this as a disaster," acting municipal manager Riana Meiring said on Sunday at the site of the incident.
This meant no measure would be spared in acquiring resources to deal with it, and also that emergency procurement procedures for essential parts and equipment were in place during this period.
The recovery plan was slowed by a power outage in the early hours of Tuesday 28 June when the Waainek area west of Grahamstown experienced an electricity outage. This affected the Howieson’s Poort pump station which feeds the western reservoirs.
Because the pumps stopped running for several hours, the western reservoirs, as well as inside and outside lay dams, drained.
The pump station there started operating at 7am on Tuesday 28 June; however, while initial projections were that it would take eight hours to raise the reservoir levels enough to resume the supply at 5pm, the municipality Tuesday afternoon announced that the reservoirs were not filling up as quickly as expected.
"The problems experienced with filling up the reservoirs in the western side have forced the municipality to close water supply until 5am Wednesday 29 June," their statement said.
"This will allow the reservoirs to get up to acceptable levels. Although this is a huge inconvenience, we have resolved that this decision will be the best to ensure there is water supply constantly from tomorrow [Wednesday].
In Grahamstown East, by 10pm on Monday 27 June, one pump at the James Kleynhans water treatment works resumed pumping and delivering water at 60 percent of the normal capacity. The other motors that were sent to East London to dry out in a special facility were Tuesday on their way back to the plant. Officials said Tuesday morning they expected that the second motor would be fitted by 10pm Tuesday 28 June and that the plant would run at its normal capacity from then on.
Makana Municipality expressed its gratitude to its staff and partners, Amatola Water and the Department of Water and Sanitation "who have worked tirelessly to solve this crisis".
The James Kleynhans water treatment works and pump station service the eastern areas of Grahamstown including Transit Camp, Mayfield, Extension 1-10, Joza Street, Vukani Upper, Xolani, Tantyi and Mary Waters, Fingo Village, Lower Makana’s Kop, Newtown, KwaNdancama, Ghost Town and Hooggenoeg.
Makana Municipality has called on residents in Grahamstown West to conserve water, once the supply has returned tomorrow morning.
Water restrictions are already in place due to the drought and severe penalties will be incurred if these are flouted during the current emergency, the municipality said in a statement.
With regard to the incident at the James Kleynhans pump station on Sunday, acting municipal manager Riana Meiring said the necessary disciplinary action had been taken with respect to the relevant officials.
WATER SUPPLY RECOVERY PLAN AS OUTLINED BY MAKANA MUNICIPALITY ON MONDAY 27 JUNE
Plan A
The pumping capacity of the James Kleynhans facility is normally 150 litres a second. By replacing the motor of one of the pumps and reinstalling it officials said they hoped to have it working by 10pm tonight, Monday 27 June.
However, the pumping capacity of the single pump is 75 litres a second and so while this will allow the supply to build up again in the three reservoirs it feeds – Tantyi, Botha’s Hill and Mayfield – restrictions will remain in place for a while to maintain sufficient levels.
Water tankers have been brought into town to deliver water to residents of the affected areas.
Plan B
Plan B is to get one more pump set in operation to meet full supply.
If the electrics in the facility and the motors being baked are sound, the motors could be delivered and installed by midnight 28 June 2016.
“If all goes according to plan, the facility should be back to normal (150l/sec) by Wednesday night,” Infrastructure Director Dali Mlenzana told a high-level meeting this morning to report back on measures taken to address the crisis.
