Sixth day of intermittent water supply expected for large parts of Gqeberha

Large parts of Nelson Mandela Bay will have to contend with little to no water supply for a sixth consecutive day.

Scores of businesses and households have not had municipal water since Thursday, as three bursts on a major pipeline and an electrical fault have caused shortages in the western and northern suburbs of the city.

Fortunately, on the other end of the city, the reservoir level at the Airport Zone increased overnight to 15.99%, meaning that South End, Humewood and surrounding areas will now have water supply.

Municipal spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki said the Chelsea reservoir was at 8.6% this morning after progress had been made overnight to isolate the damaged section of the pipeline.

“The pipeline has been drained and the excavation equipment delivered on site.” 

Yesterday afternoon on inspection of the whole pipeline, the teams discovered a pipe burst in the Chatty river, Mniki said.

“This burst resulted in the pressure in the pipeline increasing and the pump station output was increased to 76 Ml/d [megalitres per day].”

A third pump has since been started and the pump station output has increased to 88 Ml/d.

“Water has started to recover to the lower parts of the zone, but the upper areas remain vulnerable.

“With the morning usage, pressure is expected to drop and fluctuate during the day.”

Mniki said water trucks will remain deployed until the supply is fully restored as some areas will continue to get intermittent supply.

On Monday afternoon, Bay infrastructure and engineering political head Thsonono Buyeye said residents should buckle up as the outages would not stop any time soon given the ageing pipeline infrastructure.

HeraldLIVE