Mabilo said while water production had improved, full capacity had not been reached as yet.
SOL PLAATJE municipality will continue to implement daily water cuts in the city from 2pm until 5am.
According to the latest update on the water on Friday, Sol Plaatje executive mayor Patrick Mabilo explained that the water supply challenges currently experienced in Kimberley were primarily due to the “deterioration of raw water quality” in the Vaal River.
He indicated that the situation was exacerbated by leaks on the 965 millimetre pipeline.
“Due to raw water quality challenges, production at Riverton was impacted, since extra effort was required to ensure acceptable quality of purified water.
“This reduced amount of water pumped to Kimberley by about 70 percent and it became difficult to fill up reservoirs at Newton. Secondly, there was a huge pipe leak on the 965 millimetre pipe close to the R31 on Barkly West route, behind Soul City.”
Mabilo stated that the huge pipe leak was repaired and completed on Wednesday, February 17.
“While repairs were undertaken, pumping from Riverton to Newton was impacted, which resulted in levels dropping beyond supply level.”
He added that the municipality was trying its best to ensure that all residents and other stakeholders had access to water.
“We are living during the Covid-19 pandemic and we know water is essential. Trucks have been supplying communities who have been without water and those who have funerals.”
Mabilo said while water production had improved, full capacity had not been reached as yet.
“With the repair of the leak, more water is now reaching the reservoirs. To mitigate the impact, water is being interrupted at around 2pm and opened again at around 5am. This started on February 14 and shall continue until the situation returns to normal. We are optimistic that by this time next week, the situation will be very close to normal, if not normalised at all.”
He encouraged residents to use water sparingly due this time and beyond, and to reduce demand pressure on the resources.
“We thank residents for their patience and understanding during this time and we apologise for the inconvenience this has caused.”
