City residents were once again left with dry taps, without notice, after emergency repairs had to be conducted on the 900 millimetre manifold in Riverton.
CITY residents were once again left with dry taps, without notice, after emergency repairs had to be conducted on the 900 millimetre manifold in Riverton on September 5.
Sol Plaatje Municipality spokesperson Thoko Riet said that this was due to a leak on the silver plate underneath the manifold.
Nightly water shutdowns have been reintroduced from 8pm until 4am.
The water supply in Swallow Street in Roodepan was affected following a huge burst pipe yesterday.
An informal council meeting was held on Wednesday where opposition parties bemoaned the poor state of the city’s water infrastructure, while the media was instructed to leave as “no one was invited”.
Prior to the meeting, members of the Northern Cape legislature advised council officials during an oversight visit to municipalities that they were concerned to hear that Sol Plaatje Municipality was on the brink of bankruptcy.
They called for action plans to be implemented and pointed to service delivery challenges throughout the city.
Presentations were made where it was indicated that there were challenges with a shortage of technical skills as well as a shortage of capacity of the dilapidated bulk infrastructure to cater for the sanitation needs as well as stormwater drainage.
A capital budget of R249 million has been set aside for the Carters Glen pump station that is currently in the second phase of construction as well as the Lerato Park bulk services installation that was reported to be completed by the end of this financial year.
An amount of R4 million has been allocated for a solar heating programme, R13 million for the rehabilitation of roads and R20 million for the upgrading of gravel and tar roads.
It was indicated that the R2.5 billion would be used to reduce water losses and improve the quality of water, address major leaks and repair water leaks.
The committee was informed that Magareng Municipality was still experiencing low water pressure, while Dikgatlong Municipality is also experiencing water issues.
Ritchie residents also complained that they only had a few hours of water each day after the generator broke down two weeks ago.
