Soshanguve residents have expressed frustration after their taps suddenly ran dry. Picture: Oupa Mokoena/African News Agency (ANA)
Pretoria - Residents in some parts of Soshanguve have expressed frustration after their taps suddenly ran dry owing to Tuesday’s devastating thunderstorm that hit Zuikerbosch Water Treatment Plant power lines.
Many affected residents in the township took a swipe at the City of Tshwane for the water shortage, citing that in recent months the township had been at the receiving end of intermittent water outages.
One of the residents suspected that there was “a well-co-ordinated criminal attack on their human rights”, citing that water outage appeared to be a weekly occurrence.
Another resident said on social media: “Soshanguve has been without water since yesterday (Wednesday) yet the notice you circulated said we will not have water on September 21 from 9:00- 21:00.”
An angry resident Hezekial Themba said: “So there is no update with Soshanguve. We don’t have water in Block VV, WW, UU, XX. You don’t take Soshanguve seriously. You are busy updating us about foreigners in Sunnyside.”
Rand Water said its Zuikerbosch Water Treatment Plant power lines were affected by the severe thunderstorm around midnight on Tuesday which subsequently tripped the plant.
Water Utility’s spokesperson, Makenosi Maroo, said in a media statement: “The attempts to restart the plant revealed faults along the overhead power lines supplying the auxiliary plant.”
She said the power failure resulted in the loss of 2 000 million litres per day.
Consequently, she said, the load reduction had affected all municipalities supplied from the Zuikerbosch Water Treatment Plant.
The affected areas were Palmiet system, Klipriviersberg, Klipfontein, Brakfontein, Germiston, Northridge, Haartebeeshoek 2 Mapleton, Brakpan, Vlakfontein, Selcourt, Wildebeestfontein, Stompiesfontein Eikenhof, Meredale and Waterval.
Maroo said: “It is important to highlight that this incident occurred while the systems are being strained by the high consumption which is going to exacerbate the situation.”
She urged customers to adopt water-saving measures to reduce high consumption and apologised for the inconvenience the accident had caused.
Meanwhile, residents in Sunnyside and surrounding areas were also left stranded due to water outage.
The City of Tshwane yesterday said it was aware of a water supply interruption affecting the areas.
“The city’s team of technicians had to shut down the water supply in order to effect repairs on a continuous water leak in the Salvokop Reservoir supply zone. The water supply will be restored as soon as repairs are concluded,” said municipal spokesperson Lindela Mashigo.
The affected areas were Arcadia, part of Muckleneuk, part of the Pretoria CBD, Sunnyside and Trevenna.
“The City apologises for the inconvenience that may arise as a result of this unplanned service interruption,” Mashigo said.
Pretoria News