The municipality took major steps to ensure the restoration process of water supply to residents following a malfunction at one of its valves, which then led to the flooding of the pumps and motors on the abstraction side. 

Municipal spokesperson Thoko Riet said the installation of all four motors at Riverton has been completed and put into operation. Water has been restored in all areas, however, high-lying areas may still not have water or experience low-pressure today as a result of low water levels in the reservoir. Riet added that they may also be required to shut down the water supply in the evenings to replenish levels. 

On Monday, Riet said that one of their challenges was the closing down of service providers as a result of the festive holidays.

“This is the fourth day in the Sol Plaatje municipal area that we have these challenges regarding the water, but the water supply has been continuing as stipulated before. The trucks are roaming around the city, we’ve got strategic points where communities can collect water from. The only unfortunate part is that this is not the normal shutdown we are planning. We have challenges where service provider companies closed down for the duration of December. So we are working with limited resources,” said Riet.

She further said that residents were also frustrated and refused municipal trucks entry to other areas. Reit condemned this behaviour.

"There are trucks that had to be escorted by police to distribute water. We are doing what we can with the number of trucks that we have. The few water emergency water tankers we have, have been assisting the hospitals, the clinics, the morgues and the old age home. We really plead for patience while we try hard to assist the community. With this challenge, there is also a high number of calls going through to the call centre, we really plead for patience whilst you wait for another operator to assist you," she concluded.

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