The owner of Hancor in Kimberley said there was “less desperation” for water among city residents during the latest scheduled water shutdown.
THE OWNER of Hancor in Kimberley, Pieta Serfontein, said there was “less desperation” for water among city residents during the latest scheduled water shutdown.
Serfontein, a local businessman, once again availed his services to assist the residents of Sol Plaatje Municipality over the five days of the water shutdown, which started on the evening of August 9 and saw water being restored by August 14.
He is well known as the city’s Good Samaritan due to his intervention in providing the community with water for free during shutdowns.
This time around, Serfontein said he did not have to fill the JoJo tank that he put up at his deli in West End as often as he has during past water interruptions.
He added, however, that people did fetch water day and night throughout the latest shutdown and he thus ensured that the tank remained full.
He said Sunday was the busiest day, when people were running out of water and were panicking that the municipality would not deliver on time.
“According to me, there was better communication this time (from Sol Plaatje Municipality) and better preparations were put in place by the municipality and the community,” Serfontein said this week after the water supply had been restored to the city.
“We normally have to fill the JoJo tanks four to five times a day, which was about 100 000 litres a day. And sometimes we had to distribute water with our own trucks. But this time, we did not have to distribute because we realised that fewer people were coming to fill their buckets using their own cars and wheelbarrows. There were, however, instances where we assisted those who had to carry buckets.
“I believe that everyone had made the necessary provision for water because the announcement was made to allow time for that.”
Serfontein said there was no “heavy traffic” or long queues this time around, although there was still a steady stream of people collecting water up until and including Monday.
Meanwhile, Sol Plaatje Municipality has announced that it will implement daily water interruptions in order to boost capacity at Newton Reservoir.
Municipal spokesperson Thoko Riet said the water supply would be closed off on the direct take-offs from Wednesday.
“From Thursday (yesterday), until levels reach full capacity, we will switch off the water supply daily at 11am to 4pm and again from 9pm to 4am,” said Riet.
