- Barely a few weeks into the new year, Hout Bay’s water woes continue to wreak havoc for the City of Cape Town and its residents.
- It started out with a burst pipe just after 03:00 on Saturday, 13 January on the 300 mm Harbour Road water main, which feeds water to Northshore, Kronezicht, Hangberg and Hout Bay Heights.
- Further complications were brought on by a burst pipe in Karbonkel Road, in addition to the reservoir above the Heights running dry over night on Tuesday 16 January around 11:00.
Barely a few weeks into the new year, Hout Bay’s water woes continue to wreak havoc for the City of Cape Town and its residents.
It started out with a burst pipe just after 03:00 on Saturday, 13 January on the 300 mm Harbour Road water main, which feeds water to Northshore, Kronezicht, Hangberg and Hout Bay Heights.
The pipeline had to be shut off to enable repairs.
Further complications were brought on by a burst pipe in Karbonkel Road, in addition to the reservoir above the Heights running dry over night on Tuesday 16 January around 11:00.
“This is unfortunately due to load shedding which occurred when the pumps were due to be switched on and pump water into the reservoir. We are currently supplying the reservoir however it will take some time to fill the network,” the City said in a statement released last week.
It continued, saying the City’s telemetry equipment, which assists in indicating low levels in the reservoir, has been stolen and vandalised which is adding to these problems. Inquiry to Hout Bay police to confirm the alleged theft was not confirmed at the time of going to print.
As to the restorations of the burst in Harbour Road, the City indicated that, because of the intricate high-voltage cabling in the immediate region of the repairs, it was determined that manual excavation of the pipe was required.
“Unfortunately, this process was time consuming and labour intensive. Further assessment found a tree’s roots wrapped around the pipe, which added an additional layer of complexity. Arrangements had to be made to uproot the tree in order to access the pipe, which caused further delays.“
City staff was said to have worked non-stop to remove the tree and clearing the way for pipe repairs to be done around at 22:00 on Saturday (13 January) evening.
This work, however, was abruptly stopped as advised by the City’s Law Enforcement as safety risks arose when the team on site was allegedly pelted with stones.
“There were multiple contributing factors which delayed the completion of repairs to the pipe bursts in Hout Bay. While teams worked around the clock to resolve the technical challenges, the extended delays caused by safety risks could have been avoided,” said the City’s Mayco member for water and sanitation Zahid Badroodien.
Work resumed on Sunday morning 14 January, when the team returned to install a new section of pipe. By 19:30 all repairs were completed, however, an unexpected second burst occurred on the Valley Road 300 mm diameter water main, while the team was reinstating and filling the pipes.
This second burst required the supply from the Hout Bay Reservoir to be turned off in order for the pipe to be excavated. This disruption affected the entire Hout Bay area, including the areas previously affected on Saturday. It also affected Mount Rhodes, Suikerbossie, Ruyterplaats and Llandudno.
Recurring bursts or leaks on the repaired pipeline also needed to be resolved.
This follows mere months since Disa 1 & 2 informal settlements in Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay went days without water which led to outrage and damage to public property. Tyres were burnt at the Gateway Circle on Wednesday evening 29 November, while City officials attempted to find the source of the problem.
Ward 74 Councillor Rob Quintas at the time stated the outage was partly caused by criminal elements. He indicated that vandalised infrastructure with a stolen copper ball valve which provides water to those areas was discovered on Thursday morning 30 November near the Hout Bay cemetery.
