Pretoria - A three-week struggle without water has come to an end for some Stinkwater residents – but the City of Tshwane says the water is not fit for direct consumption.
The City said part of the community was getting water from Sekampaneng reservoir, which is supplied from Temba Water Treatment Plant.
“The water can be used for other purposes, but not for direct consumption. The City has deployed water trucks that are roaming around the affected areas on a daily basis since the interruption started.” The water struggle comes after a pipe burst, leaving the community without water.
“The water interruption is caused by a pipe leak from the major pipeline that supplies the Stinkwater area with water from Soshanguve DD reservoir,” the City said.
Erny Hlongwane said they were glad they now had water, but they were not sure if the water was fit for consumption.
“We use water for almost everything, and not having water is a crisis. Now we are supplied with tanks, but it is still a struggle for some of us.
“The trucks do not have specific times for delivery, and some of us are at work or out to do errands when they come, so we miss out on having clean water.”
Hlongwane said they had not been informed that the water was back, or if it was fit for consumption. He also said they were promised water for the Easter holidays, but that only happened on Monday.
Approve Khoza said the lack of water had impacted badly on businesses as sales dropped due to not being able to provide good sanitation to customers.
He said they were not able to provide hydration to thirsty customers.
“We struggled with keeping kitchen utensils clean, and this limits orders taken per day, resulting in a drop in sales. Other businesses that sell beverages stopped offering services.
“The struggle of keeping the premises of the whole complex clean rises, and that negatively affects us and the customers.”
However, the City said the pipe could not be repaired in-house as it needed specialised work and machinery.
“We normally use external specialised service providers for repairs on such pipelines,” it said yesterday.
“The City has no active tender or service provider to do the repairs currently, but the matter of appointing a suitable service provider is receiving attention.”
Water will be back for areas that still do not have water as soon as the repairs are finalised, including Mokone section and Stinkwater RDP.
Pretoria News