Pretoria - Residents in some parts of Soshanguve woke up to dry taps on Tuesday morning and spent the better part of the day without any update from the City of Tshwane concerning the cause of the water outage.
The situation persisted yesterday with affected residents taking a swipe at the municipality for failing to issue a notice beforehand about water cuts and supply them with water tankers.
Rand Water said it had given 21-day notice to the municipality about a possible water outage as a result of planned maintenance on its infrastructure.
Its spokesperson, Makenosi Maroo, said yesterday: “Rand Water notified its municipal customers 21 days in advance about the planned maintenance. Municipalities were notified so that they could communicate and make the necessary arrangements for residents.”
Maroo declined to comment on why residents in Soshanguve were not kept abreast of the information, referring the question to Tshwane to explain reasons behind the lack of communication.
Frustrated residents told the Pretoria News that the interruption to water supply caught them by surprise.
One of them, known as Dimpho, from Block G, said she was forced to bunk work because there was no water to bathe.
Like many other people, she was worried that she was unable to flush her toilet and that the situation was unhygienic.
“For two days I could not take a bath and hygiene-wise I am not okay with it. I also have to live on takeaways because I don’t have water to cook,” she said.
Many wanted to know why the municipality kept them in the dark about the water utility’s planned maintenance, especially the fact that it was likely to have a negative bearing on their access to water.
Others said they were surprised about the sudden water cuts because the City never mentioned Soshanguve as part of areas likely to be affected by the water outage on its media statement about a power trip affecting the Mapleton booster pumping station.
Some took to social media to express their anger and frustration about the city’s failure to communicate about possible water shedding.
They demanded to know when the water supply would be restored to their households.
A resident from Block M said: “You were supposed to notify us in Soshanguve about the water cut-off, especially if it was to be for more than a day, but because your administration doesn’t respect us, we were taken by surprise.”
Another one said: “We are without water in Soshanguve Block AA since Tuesday evening. There has not been any communication from your side about our area being water shed. Please let us know the reason for no water and when will the water return.”
Others bemoaned the fact that the municipality didn’t arrange water tankers to provide them with water.
Basetsana Ngoepe said: “I am in Block WW, we haven’t seen a single water tanker in the area. Is this how the City takes care of its residents? This cannot be happening. We are on a second day without water and we should literally beg to be serviced?”
On Tuesday evening, the City tweeted: “#WaterUpdate on Soshanguve: @Rand_Water is cleaning Haartebeeshoek and supplying through the bypass. They are also checking for airlocks on the system. We will keep you updated.”
Municipal spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said: “According to Rand Water, they are supplying water through a bypass method which is also experiencing challenges. There are currently 24 water tankers deployed and co-ordinated in conjunction with councillors. The City is still waiting for the water utility to advise on the progress of the maintenance.”
Pretoria News