To the mayor,
Having followed for some time the regular information published regards the drought bedevilling the Eastern Cape and the need to conserve water, may I bring your attention to the following situation?
For many years, there has been leakage at the Miramar Dam site , surfacing in Dugmore Street.
It has not been a continual flow, but a frequent event, at least once, sometimes twice, a year.
The duration of each “flow event” has varied from three to six months, and the current “flow event” is now entering its fifth month.
The water losses are substantial.
The flow – of 1,200l/hour, 28,800l/day and 864,000l/month – has been confirmed by a mathematician, a mechanical engineer, a water reticulation expert, and a geoscientist (all street residents).
The cost per kilolitre – R110 – has been averaged from my personal municipal bill from January to date.
The cost of the loss per hour is R132, per day R3,168 and per month R95,040. These numbers are, given the circumstances, unacceptable.
Over the years there have been many attempts to have this problem solved.
There have been visits from “experts” and others, with not even a twitch of visible positive action.
Spurious claims have been made in the past that it is simply “rainwater surfacing”, or leaks on the property – both these scenarios have been discredited.
It is most definitely a leak from a damaged pipe (or pipes), possibly a faulty valve.
The aforementioned residents are of the opinion that it has now gone way beyond a regular problem.
We believe the simple solution is for the municipality to bring in a team of five or six workmen with shovels, no picks, and dig a trench a metre wide by a metre deep up the hillside to the dams.
They are sure to find a pipeline which can be followed to the source of the leak in preparation to effect a repair.
This will not be an expensive exercise, certainly costing far less than the monthly revenue losses currently incurred.
Please light a fire under the responsible backsides to bring this matter to a close, before we face D-Day.
Mike R
Miramar, Port Elizabeth
LETTER │Water leaks away in Miramar street
To the mayor,
Having followed for some time the regular information published regards the drought bedevilling the Eastern Cape and the need to conserve water, may I bring your attention to the following situation?
For many years, there has been leakage at the Miramar Dam site , surfacing in Dugmore Street.
It has not been a continual flow, but a frequent event, at least once, sometimes twice, a year.
The duration of each “flow event” has varied from three to six months, and the current “flow event” is now entering its fifth month.
The water losses are substantial.
The flow – of 1,200l/hour, 28,800l/day and 864,000l/month – has been confirmed by a mathematician, a mechanical engineer, a water reticulation expert, and a geoscientist (all street residents).
The cost per kilolitre – R110 – has been averaged from my personal municipal bill from January to date.
The cost of the loss per hour is R132, per day R3,168 and per month R95,040. These numbers are, given the circumstances, unacceptable.
Over the years there have been many attempts to have this problem solved.
There have been visits from “experts” and others, with not even a twitch of visible positive action.
Spurious claims have been made in the past that it is simply “rainwater surfacing”, or leaks on the property – both these scenarios have been discredited.
It is most definitely a leak from a damaged pipe (or pipes), possibly a faulty valve.
The aforementioned residents are of the opinion that it has now gone way beyond a regular problem.
We believe the simple solution is for the municipality to bring in a team of five or six workmen with shovels, no picks, and dig a trench a metre wide by a metre deep up the hillside to the dams.
They are sure to find a pipeline which can be followed to the source of the leak in preparation to effect a repair.
This will not be an expensive exercise, certainly costing far less than the monthly revenue losses currently incurred.
Please light a fire under the responsible backsides to bring this matter to a close, before we face D-Day.
Mike R
Miramar, Port Elizabeth
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