The City of Cape Town has lauded its water and sanitation teams and extended a massive thanks to residents, after the successful completion of maintenance work on the Cape Flats Water network.
Thousands of residents in dozens of areas had no water coming out of their taps for 72 hours this week.
Water was mostly restored at midnight Wednesday night.
The City’s Water and Sanitation Directorate replaced six valves along the Cape Flats water network – five planned and one unplanned, all within the 72 hour time frame.
As part of the work, teams also assessed the existing pipes and did repairs, welding and modifications where needed in:
- Prince George Drive (two valves replaced)
- Blackbird corner of Acacia Road
- Blackbird Avenue corner of Kestrel Road
- Carrol Road
- George Road
Emergency relief
While teams were hard at work, the City continued to provide emergency care relief to affected communities where possible:
- 11 City water tankers provided water to residents over three days
- 6000L of bottled water donated by Peninsula Beverages to old age homes and care institutions with the help of DRM and ward councillors.
- Two 33 000 litre water tankers availed by Peninsula Beverages filled the City’s tankers to reduce turnaround times when refilling our tankers.
Massive team effort
A multi-departmental Disaster Coordinating Team (DCT) was activated for the duration of this work to closely coordinate and monitor the various aspects of this 72-hour operation.
Various City departments were involved to support Water and Sanitation’s efforts.
This included Disaster Risk Management, Law Enforcement, Traffic Services, Metro Police, Public Participation and Corporate Communications.
In addition, residents, ward councillors, neighbourhood watches and Peninsula Beverages have also made key contributions.
Water supply returning
The City says water will slowly and systematically fill the network to prevent pipe bursts.
For a short period, the water may be discoloured or look milky. This is because of trapped air in the pipes. If left to stand in a glass, the appearance will become clear, like normal.
Residents can open an outside tap to expel any trapped air in the plumbing on their properties. This water can be stored in a container for later use, so it’s not wasted.
A huge THANK YOU!
The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation, Councillor Zahid Badroodien, has thanked all stakeholders, including residents, City departments, ward councillors, Peninsula Beverages, and neighbourhood watches, who have all helped to support this massive operation.
‘Teams have been in the trenches 24/7 doing the maintenance we needed to ensure our 11 tankers and five construction sites were safe so water could be delivered and work could be done. At the same time, tanker schedules needed to be coordinated and communicated, residents needed to be kept updated on the progress of the work and the list goes on.
‘Ward councillors played a vital role in the emergency relief, delivering donated bottled water to old age homes and co-ordinating water tanker locations with City teams to ensure smooth operations on the ground.
‘A special thank you to our residents for their patience during this operation and preparation leading up to it. Everyone played an important part of this operation.
‘This work will ensure that the City’s pipe infrastructure is in the best possible condition for years to come. Despite the temporary inconvenience, the long-lasting benefits are necessary to best ensure service delivery in a growing city.
‘We are also very grateful to all our teams who have been working non-stop to complete this work in the shortest time possible. We will continue to closely monitor the water supply until it is restored to normal.’
