Major pipe burst reason why reservoirs remained empty

Another major leak contributing to water shortages and the draining of the water supply of Makhado (Louis Trichardt) for more than a month was discovered last week. Some parts of town are still affected by water shortages.

On Wednesday, 29 January, AfriForum followed up on a valuable tip-off from community members and discovered that streams of precious drinking water had been flowing into the storm water drainage system. Limpopo Democratic Alliance leader Jacques Smalle was invited by AfriForum Louis Trichardt’s chairperson, Mr Wally Schultz, to come and have a look at the leak, which was at the corner of Ruh and President Street.

Smalle commented later that the pipeline leak was part of a bigger picture. “I would like to see an impact study to determine the real replacement cost of replacing all old existing pipelines on the whole water network of the town, all those pipelines that have gone past their lifespan. Every time a pipe bursts, it costs the municipality. But with clever financial management, the network can be replaced. There are many options available for the funding of such a project if the will is there and the proper studies and business plans have been done.”

Municipal workers were quickly on the scene to work on the pipeline, which is on a line coming in from the Albasini dam. “This is a very serious leak. Contractors are temporarily repairing it, but as soon as the levels of the reservoirs have picked up, we shall cut the water and call the contractor to do permanent repairs,” Mr David Mukosi, the water services manager of the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM) in Makhado said on Tuesday.

Schultz said that a resident and AfriForum member, Mr Freddie de Swardt, had been hearing “noises emanating from the storm water drain outside his house that sounded like an aeroplane taking off”. In addition, he had smelt a powerful chlorine smell and drawn the conclusion that water from the main line was leaking into the storm water drain.

Another resident had remarked that the town dam nearby kept receiving water although it was not raining at that time.

Schultz was first on the scene and alerted the municipality. The day before, Schultz and members of the VDM were searching for leaks and found a major leak in the industrial area near Eden Oil.

The fact that water kept flowing in from the Albasini Dam to the reservoirs, but the reservoirs kept losing water, showed that there had to be a leak or leaks. The VDM opened valves to redirect the water from Mowkop to the Bergh Street reservoir, but the reservoirs were very low and people had been suffering without water since about 21 January. 

Mowkop reservoir, which had very little water and stood between 0% and 5% on 29 January, was 20% full on Tuesday, while the Bergh Street reservoir, a smaller one, had increased from about 50% to 80%.

In the meantime, some residents in the part of town west of the N1 were still without water. “We still get complaints from residents from ‘old town’ and from the Grasdak in Celliers Street that their water supply has not been restored, but we are attending to the matter,” Mukosi said.

Date:07 February 2014

By: Linda van der Westhuizen

Linda van der Westhuizen has been with Zoutnet since 2001. She has a heart for God, people and their stories. Linda believes that every person is unique and has a special story to tell. It follows logically that human interest stories is her speciality. Linda finds working with people and their leaders in the economic, educational, spiritual and political arena very rewarding. “I have a special interest in what God is doing in our town, province and nation and what He wants us to become,” says Linda.

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