Sol Plaatje Municipality was given the thumbs up on Monday for its handling of the water shutdown thus far, after some areas in the city started to have their water restored on Sunday evening.
SOL PLAATJE Municipality was given the thumbs up on Monday morning for its handling of the water shutdown thus far, after some areas in the city started to have their water restored on Sunday evening.
The water was officially turned off on Wednesday evening for repairs to be done on the 600mm and 965mm pipelines and was scheduled to be restored by 11pm on Monday evening.
Four leaks behind 3SAI have been repaired, including the leak behind the Roodepan take-off.
The municipality provided roaming water trucks to supply water in various areas and JoJo tanks were also set up at busy intersections and police stations.
Sol Plaatje mayor Kagisho Sonyoni had given the assurance that there would be 52 water tankers supplying water to residents.
He said 27 of the tankers were equipped with JoJo tanks while 25 tankers would keep the JoJo tanks filled up.
No violent incidents, protests or unresolved issues have been reported in relation to the water shutdown thus far.
Municipal spokesperson Thoko Riet said on Monday morning that work was already completed in Riverton and at other sites.
Most areas in Galeshewe and Roodepan have already started receiving water.
“Water was already restored in some areas like Roodepan on Sunday afternoon, while supply increases by the day,” said Riet.
“Areas supplied by Newton Reservoir are still without water. Once the line is full, water will be restored later this morning.
“We will, however, still continue distributing water across the city and filling the JoJo tankers where there is a need.”
The water interruption has meanwhile affected learning and teaching at schools, with the Northern Cape Department of Education concerned that the absence of water at schools was a health hazard.
Department spokesperson Sydney Stander said the department had pre-arranged with schools to release learners at 11am on Friday and on Monday.
“We will continue to manage the situation and take correct decisions as it unfolds,” said Stander on Monday.
Some city parents, however, decided to keep their children at home on Friday and Monday.
Sol Plaatje Municipality was meanwhile praised for keeping its promise of having enough water supply for residents since the taps started running dry on Thursday morning.
One resident, Rachel Strauss, a mother of five from Tshwaragano, said that “this time the municipality has made more effort in the supply of water”.
She said she was satisfied that the shutdown was not a crisis and everyone had a chance to plan in advance.
However, she and many other residents still ran out of water.
“My children were taught the value of water this past weekend. On Thursday we thought we were covered and will not need to use the truck water. But that was not the case, we filled up more on Sunday morning from the trucks.
“I was travelling with empty buckets in the car in case I ran into a water truck on Saturday while I was running errands.
“I also had to do laundry because I have small children and was at work during the week. We had filled up so much water, thinking that it would be enough for four days but it was not the case,” said Strauss.
“But I applaud our municipality this time for a job well done in ensuring that almost everyone had water.
“The warning prior to the shutdown also helped a lot and I believe it reduced a lot of panic. We did not witness any incidents whereby tyres were burnt and trucks were hijacked for water.”
* For any areas in Galeshewe still without water, the local residents are urged to contact the call centre at 053 8306 111.
