The town's water crisis is threatening to become a catastrophe, with large parts of the town going without water for days at a time.
Apart from this, people in town are adding to the problem by using water for watering their gardens, in spite of the total ban on water usage for anything other than domestic use.
The Zoutpansberger reported on the water crisis at the local high school last week. In the meantime, the municipality managed to address the shortage, at least temporarily, by finding the valve that was causing the problem. It had apparently been left open inadvertently, which caused the water supply destined for one reservoir to flow to another.
Unfortunately, large parts of the town have had to make do without water for long periods, since the reservoir in Bergh Street has run dry and the pressure in the pipeline is too weak to replenish it. This means that the current demand for water is exceeding the municipality's capacity to supply water to the whole town. An official from the town council has had to go around town, forcing people to stop watering their gardens with municipal water by cutting off their supply. However, this problem is only a drop in the ocean, so to speak.
In a related incident, the Zoutpansberger was alerted to a leak in the water supply along the Albasini main water supply pipeline to town on Tuesday. Upon investigation it was found that the leak occurred approximately 12 kilometres out of town. Water was gushing from a manhole at the top of a ridge, flowing down the side of the road and into the veldt. The owner of the farm bordering on the manhole next to the road has had to install drainage pipes to prevent his access road from being washed away or becoming a marsh. Thousands of litres of water were running off into the veldt every hour. A lack of sufficient pressure to pump the water to town was therefore to be expected. The same official of the municipality was alerted of this problem and he promised to pay attention to it immediately.
By early Tuesday evening, at least some parts of the town had water again. By Wednesday morning, the leak along the Albasini pipeline had also been fixed. The worrying factor is that this specific problem has occurred a number of times before, with no end to the problem in sight. People all over town regularly report pipe bursts, blocked drainage outlets, sewage spills and other water-related problems, but the municipality appears either unable to cope or unwilling to address these problems. Many say it is not enough to say that the infrastructure is old and overtaxed. As taxpayers, the public need answers to the questions about these essential, basic amenities that cannot be relied upon.
"The past has shown that this town is in dire need of experts who can draw up a proper contingency plan to cope with the existing problems while a five-year rolling plan is being formulated on how to address these problems permanently. If necessary, the national government should be petitioned to assist or step in by way of providing funds and/or manpower," remarked a resident.