By Rod Amner and Nomfundo Mbatha
In a week when residents on the western side of the city, including those in critical care facilities, have been at their wits’ end at the water outages, comes the revelation that Makhanda’s overall water security is compromised by one missing pump.
Amatola Water communications manager Nolitha Mbangcolo told Grocott’s Mail today that the James Kleynhans Water Treatment Works, which supplies Makhanda East, is currently able to produce 20 megalitres (ML) of water a day “under normal circumstances”, double the amount currently being pumped from the facility.
Over R400 million has been spent since 2015 to upgrade the James Kleynhans facility’s capacity to supply the whole town with water. However, Makana Municipality spokesperson Anele Mjekula told Grocott’s Mail that the James Kleynhans water works currently produces just 10 ML a day, due to the lack of a third pump. He said this means there is insufficient water to transfer to the whole city.
This begs the question: Where is the pump? When will either Makana Municipality, Amatola Water, or the Department of Water and Sanitation install a third pump at the James Kleynhans water works that could give Makhanda a 24/7 water supply? Why isn’t this being fast-tracked as an emergency measure?
Meanwhile, responding to the question as to why some water wasn’t diverted from the east to the west during this week’s crisis, Mjekula said there was a burst in the transfer line at almost the same time as the burst on the Howisonspoort rising main. “We had to wait for a cascade clamp to fix it. The transfer line was fixed the same day as the rising line on Howiesonspoort,” Mjekula said.
Delayed repairs to the leaking rising main at Howiesonspoort (which supplies the western part of the city) were finally completed by Thursday, after five days of water outages.
But compounding the crisis was the major leak on Milner Road on Thursday. Mjeklula said that a tie-in by an asbestos replacement contractor on Wednesday had failed on Thursday. “Due to non-closing, isolating valves, water was closed for both intermediate and low-lying reservoir zones to allow for repairs to be done.”
The situation remains dire in many areas for residents and institutions that depend on water as a fundamental human right. Some areas have been without water for much longer than a week.
Water tanks at Brookshaw Home, which houses seniors, runs a kitchen, a frail care unit, and a full laundry service, are almost empty.
In a public appeal on social media, Brookshaw manager Gunda Krause said staff and the EPC team have been working tirelessly to keep things running. “We are now desperate. We appeal to the public for any assistance with water replenishment,” Krause said.
Howiesonspoort repairs
According to the Municipality, the original disruption last week stemmed from a leak at the Howiesonspoort rising main, where municipal workers had to replace a deteriorated section of pipe. According to Mjekula, the process was delayed due to the pipe taking longer than expected to drain, which stalled welding and replacement efforts.
“The cutting out of the rotten piece and welding in a new steel pipe piece could not commence until the pipe had completely drained,” he said.
The municipality pledged to provide water trucks in the most urgent cases, but the stopgap solution was not enough for many residents and facilities to meet basic needs.
Makhanda residents expressed their frustrations about the ongoing water crisis on Facebook and WhatsApp. “Our human rights have been taken away again by Makana Municipality, heading close to a week without water,” said Marco Grundlingh on Facebook.
As frustration boils over, residents are left to rely on limited water donations, boreholes, depleted rainwater tanks and spending money on buying bulk water.
James Kleynhans Phase 3 tender cancelled.
Meanwhile, Amatola Water, alarmingly, also admitted that the tender for Phase 3 of the James Kleynhans Water Treatment Works, which was due for completion in June 2025, has been cancelled.
In 2024, Amatola Water issued a tender to procure a contractor for Phase 3, but it was cancelled “due to a lack of suitable responses from the market”.
Spokesperson Nolitha Mbangcolo said a new tender process was initiated in early 2025, with the tender being advertised and closed on 8 May 2025. “We anticipate that the procurement of a contractor will be finalised by 30 June 2025,” she said.
The tender evaluation process is currently underway. Once a contractor is appointed and agreements are in place, they will complete the project within 18 months of the start date. This means the project, which was initially approved by the Department of Water and Sanitation in 2015 with a budget of R101.85 million, may only be completed in 2027, a full 12 years after its start.
The costs of the stalled but now completed Phases 1 and 2 of the project subsequently ballooned to R402.9 million of taxpayers’ money. After Phase 2’s completion, the James Kleynhans water works were handed over to the Makana Municipality in 2024.
It is unclear how much Phase 3 will cost. Still, it will encompass the refurbishment of existing components of the water treatment works, including stormwater protection at the clear water high lift pump station.
“Importantly, this work will not adversely affect the operations established under Phase 2. We expect that, under normal operating conditions, James Kleynhans will be able to produce and distribute the full capacity of 20 ML per day to Makhanda East, despite the ongoing developments of Phase 3,” Mbancolo said.
“Amatola Water is committed to ensuring that a contractor with the appropriate capacity and capability is awarded the Phase 3 work as soon as possible, with an aim to commence construction before the end of the year,” she added.
