Manager of the Engineering and Transport Department at Rhodes, Dave Martin, said the new water truck purchased recently by the university has already been put to good use.
Manager of the Engineering and Transport Department at Rhodes, Dave Martin, said the new water truck purchased recently by the university has already been put to good use.
“We started off by transporting water to the Post Graduate Village because the water pressure is always too low so the water then struggles to go all the way up to the taps. This means that students get little water, or sometimes nothing at all."
Speaking to Grocott's Mail on Tuesday, Rhodes head of Infrastructure, Operations & Finance, Dr Ian L’ Ange, said, “We have purchased the truck as part of an emergency preparations plan, given that the university is not only highly residential in nature (approximately 55% of students are accommodated in residences) but also has a growing number of research laboratories which require the backup of such vehicle."
He emphasised that the purchase of the R1,1 million water tanker was not intended to undermine the municipality's capacity to deal with the water crisis: “We have every confidence that the Makana Municipality has the water situation under control.”
According to its website, Rhodes has just over 7 000 students, with some 3 700 living in the University residences
L’ Ange said the 15 000 litre vehicle will be an additional water provision resource on campus and will assist with putting out fires on university property.
He said the tanker will allow the University to respond to future emergency situations, servicing "all students living in Rhodes residences" during times of need.
In a statement released by Rhodes last year, the university said the cost implications of the water crisis were estimated to be R115 000 a day. This included the provision of bottled water and the purchase of disposable cutlery and crockery for use in the dining halls.
Makana Municipality has welcomed news of the water tanker's purchase. Director of Infrastructure and Technical Services at Makana, Thembinkosi Myalato said: “As Makana we view this acquisition as a precautionary measure and I give them a round of applause.”
Myalato said that, according to a stipulation in the Disaster Act, all institutions should have alternative emergency facilities in order deal with any eventuality: “As a typical example, Settlers Hospital or Fort England Hospital have reservoirs as part of an emergency backup.”
Myalato added that Rhodes is not just an academy but also forms part of a large municipal ward, Ward 12, and therefore requires such a resource. According to an article on the Rhodes website, Ward 12 has a population of around 9,000, comprised of staff and students.
According to the Democratic Alliance's Member of the Provincial Legislature for the Eastern Cape, Dacre Haddon, the Post Graduate Village and 10 other Rhodes residences were reported to be among the most vulnerable to the city’s water challenges. In his proposal to Parliament in September last year Haddon said the lack of “gravity feed” of water to end users was the main problem.
Gravity feed is the downward flow of water from a reservoir to the taps of the end user. He explained that, because the Residences were situated above the existing reservoirs base flow, they did not receive a reliable feed. The DA proposed that the municipality build a large reservoir on the hill above the N2, next to the current Waainek water treatment plant.
Other important parts of Grahamstown that were identified as similarly vulnerable were the Monument, Prison and Army base.
