THE Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality is battling a water crisis that has seen some parts of the Free State capital going for days without supplies of the precious liquid.
The city administrators blame the interruptions on extended power cuts and burst pipes.
Within the past two weeks, the municipality has been forced to deploy tankers to deliver bulk water to some of the affected areas, including Bloemfontein’s affluent suburbs of Woodlands Hills, Heuwelsig, Pentagon Park and Lilyvale.
High-density areas such as Thaba Nchu have also had to go for days with dry taps.
The municipality has promised to stabilise water provision across the metro by the end of this week.
“We are mindful of the inconvenience caused by the non-availability of water in
certain parts of the city,” Mangaung city manager Sello More said.
“We undertook a thorough assessment not only to deal with the temporary inconvenience, but to also address long-term water security issues in the metro,” he added.
“As a temporary measure, we have undertaken a process of emergency refurbishment of
pump sets of Maselspoort water treatment plant, which will be the major response to the
current situation.
“We are also on the verge of refurbishing the filters at Maselspoort – this will be a long-term response on the water security of the city as it will assist us in improving the quality of water that we are treating, as well as the concomitant volume of water that we are treating.”
More said Mangaung will continue deploying water tankers until the supply situation stabilised.
“The city has insufficient capital for long term infrastructure provision, but we intend to use what is available and availed to us to build a long-term security for the citizens of Mangaung,” he said.
“We shall continue to provide water tankers working together with Vaal Central Water Board to mitigate as a temporary measure, while we are sorting out our system.” – Staff Reporter