Sol Plaatje Municipality says it is “pulling out all the stops” and hopes to restore the water supply by Sunday evening.
SOL PLAATJE Municipality provided an update on Saturday – day 10 of the five-day water shutdown – about work at the Gogga pump station, the site of a major leak that has throttled the water supply to the Newton Reservoir.
According to municipal spokesperson Thabo Mothibi: “The assessment is complete. There is no major damage on the main pipeline, except a tear on the scour outlet pipe to the valve. The contractor is stabilising the tilted chamber and will cut and seal it off.
“The investigation on the cause of the chamber collapse is incomplete at this stage.”
Mothibi said that once the repair work is complete, pumping at full capacity from the Riverton Wastewater Treatment Works will resume.
“Water will be pumped to the Newton Reservoir to improve the water levels for pumping into the distribution network of Kimberley CBD and suburbia, Greenpoint and parts of Galeshewe that have been affected.”
“We are pulling out all the stops to restore water supply tomorrow (Sunday) evening.”
Mothibi added that in an effort to replenish the reservoirs, off-takes supplying water to parts of Galeshewe and Roodepan will be closed.
Residents in these areas who had been receiving water were encouraged to store enough water for Saturday and Sunday.
He further said that roving water tankers are doing the rounds and the municipality will also ensure that JoJos running on empty are replenished.
MD OF BIGEN AFRICA ASSISTS WITH WATER CRISIS
On Friday, the managing director of consulting engineers Bigen Africa, Dr Mias van der Walt, had predicted that water could be restored to Galeshewe and certain low-lying areas in the city by Sunday evening.
Van der Walt arrived in Kimberley on Friday to assist with the water crisis, upon request of municipal manager Thapelo Matlala.
Van der Walt said that “worst case scenario”, repairs at Gogga pump station would take around 24 hours.
“Once repairs are complete it should take around six to eight hours to fill the reservoir.”
He stated that once the area was drained, they would be able to assess if it was only a valve that was partially open.
“We also see that the valve chamber has tilted to the one side where the open section eroded support away from the valve chamber. If that is the case, we don’t know the extent of the damage. It will take 24 hours to repair the valve and cut the old pipe.”
Van der Walt added that another leak was discovered at Camelia Road.
“This one is easier to fix as it is about the size of an old 50-cent coin. However, this leak will only be repaired once the Gogga pump station leak is repaired as it is on the same pipeline.”
The CEO of the Northern Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sharon Steyn, added on Friday that “another headache” was on the way as there was an overflow of sewage from Gogga pump station into the “R31 lake”.
