Cape Town - Repairs to a leak in the pipeline at the Steenbras dam in the Western Cape which left northern suburbs residents without water for a number of hours this week, started only four days after it was reported.
Xanthea Limberg, mayoral committee member for informal settlements, water and waste services and energy, said the leak had been reported last Sunday.
Kuils River and Bellville residents had their water supply interrupted between Thursday and Friday, while repairs to the leak were completed.
Limberg explained the reason for the four-day delay: “Because the city has to isolate the bulk main, the various reticulation branches had to make the necessary adjustments to their network so that the number of the residents affected could be minimised. In addition, the city did not have the necessary parts in stock.”
About 600 kilolitres of water from the pipeline had to be drained to de-pressurise the system to make provision for the valve repair, she said.
She said it was not possible to determine the amount of water lost due to the leak. “The isolation of this 750mm in diameter pipeline only affected a limited area.”
Residents were notified about the shutdown by the city’s reticulation department to Netcare Kuils River hospital. “In addition, radio broadcasts and social media notifications were used to inform the greater public as this was an emergency repair project.”
She said regular maintenance was carried out at various dams, but there was “no guarantee that leaks will not occur as there are numerous contributing factors, which give rise to leaks."
She said the city had reduced the burst rate from 63.9 bursts per 100km of piping in the 2010/2011 financial year, to 31 in recent years, according to latest statistics.
This had resulted in “millions of litres of water” being saved in the process. Water losses for the overall systems have been reduced from around 25 percent in 2009 to below 15 percent according to the latest data”.