Cape Town - The City’s of Cape Town’s mission to conduct urgent repairs to the leaking 915mm diameter water pipe in Blackbird Avenue, Parkwood, was completed 20 hours ahead of schedule late on Saturday night.
The repair operation left numerous areas in the South without water, but most were restored by on Sunday morning.
The repairs were possible thanks to an all-hands-on-deck approach with the City’s entire water and sanitation directorate assisting where needed. There was help from law enforcement, engineers, plumbers, welders and more.
Residents were unimpressed to have yet another pipe burst affecting their weekend schedules but were kept up to date by their councillors and through the City’s social media.
Ward councillor Carmen Siebritz for Diep River, Ottery, Southfield, Wetton and Wynberg, said her ward was affected in its entirety with water supply shutting off promptly at noon, as was communicated well ahead of time.
Water and Sanitation acting Mayco member Siseko Mbandezi said they set up on site on Saturday morning and by noon the water supply was turned off for the repairs to be conducted safely and in the shortest time possible.
Some of the affected areas included Strandfontein, Zeekoevlei, Grassy Park, Lotus River, Schaapkraal, Ottery, Heathfield, Plumstead, Wynberg and Muizenberg.
Water was initially planned to be restored by 4pm on Sunday due to the magnitude of the burst pipe but Mbandezi said the early repair was possible because the team reviewed the repair options once the covering chamber structure was demolished, which allowed them unrestricted access to the leaking pipeline.
Mbandezi said R109.4 million was allocated for water pipe replacements for a total of 50km during the current 2022/23 financial year. This was in an effort to maintain the City’s water network infrastructure through upgrades and replacement of the existing water reticulation infrastructure.
Depot manager Aphiwe Mankomo said the pipe burst wasted a lot of water so they isolated it from the main bulk water supply in Schaapkraal.
Mankomo said the only challenge they experienced was difficulty in getting the pressure reduced all the way back to zero – this was what led the team to review their options and establish a more efficient action plan.
“This was an emergency, because of the magnitude of the pipe and the volume of water that flows through it, we had to get everybody to speedily come out,” Mankomo said.
Siebritz, who was on site, said: “Thank you to the water and sanitation team led by Aphiwe for making the process as seamless as they did. The water tankers were appreciated, which ensured that no resident was left behind.”
However, community activist Ursula Schenker said there were residents who suffered increasingly during the water outage, particularly the elderly.
“Many seniors have to take medication that makes them urinate more often and when they cannot flush, they fear a negative impact. The elderly also fear leaks with water pressure fluctuations, then it becomes their problem with no recourse if it is on their premises.”