Download PDFNot having access to water in your community can be most depressing. The community of Palmridge, in Ekurhuleni, was without water for three days from 22 February 2023 till 24 February 2023. Residents say that there was no notice of a water outage given to the community. People are struggling to get water which is one of the most important resources we need in our lives.
Residents were only notified of water cuts from 24 February 2023 at 03:00 am until 25 February 2023 at 09:00 am they should expect this due to the implementation of the planned 30 hours of maintenance of infrastructure. The community was surprised to wake up to a water outage two days earlier than expected. The residents of Palmridge ext 23 wanted the councillor to get them information about what is happening with the water. Later on the same day Rand Water released a media statement saying that they are still busy repairing the vandalised valve. The expected end for repair time was midnight of 22 February 2023 and the water supply from Rand Water to Eden Park reservoir was to be restored.
When this did not happen as Rand Water promised, the Councillor sent trucks to supply people with water. That happened on 23 February 2023. Those who are at work during the day struggle as the queues were too long. Some people were not supplied on the first load, the truck had to go and refill repeatedly. The truck had to supply seven different extensions of Palmridge, one truck offered to the community was not enough. At about 19:30 pm, the queues were still long, and most people were complaining that load-shedding would resume in half an hour, and they did yet to cook due to lack of water.
This community of Palmridge woke up again the next day to a waterless place. Frustrated residents walked to extension 9 and others to extension 1 of the township to fetch water from other houses which later also started to experience a shortage of water on the evening of 23 February 2023. Rand Water promised to give an update again on 24 February 2023.
Most children who are schooling around the affected areas do not go to school, instead, they are seen with buckets of water queueing for water while falling behind with their school syllabus.
This article was submitted on 24 February 2023. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
