Cllr Sonnenberg thanks staff for hard work after restoring water supply to Nomzamo
The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Utility Services, Councillor Ernest Sonnenberg, would like to thank staff of the Water and Sanitation Department for their commitment to restoring water supply to the Nomzamo community in the face of extremely challenging conditions.
Emergency repairs
Teams on the ground worked to fix the problem from the moment of the first pipe failure on Wednesday last week until late on Tuesday night when supply was finally restored.
Access to the pipeline was highly challenging due to informal structures having been built on top of it and, in addition to the engineering challenges, progress was arrested when teams could not reach key points of the network due to protest action and threats to their personal safety. With the added complication of a blocked sewer pipe that caused an overflow, staff worked in swamp-like conditions two metres below ground level under protection of security services to repair the pipe faults.
Hillstar depot staff commended for their effort
‘It is not always possible to predict a series of material faults like what we saw with the Nomzamo area over the past week. The only thing within human control is the speed and skill with which such a crisis is responded to. For that reason I would like to extend my greatest thanks to Water and Sanitation Department management and the staff of the Hillstar depot who pulled out all the stops and whose commitment to restoring water supply to the area is exemplary. Thank you for doing a sterling job under the circumstances,’ said Councillor Sonnenberg.
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