From 19 to 21 February, some residents of the Outer West had to live without water.
On Wednesday 19 February, technicians from EWS were conducting routine maintenance when a “split valve” got stuck in the wrong direction causing the water flow to be diverted to Durban, thereby emptying the Abelia reservoir in Kloof. This, in turn, had a knock on effect throughout the Highway area.
“I understand the outrage caused by misinformation from the call centre,” said Councillor Rick Crouch. “I called myself and got conflicting information. I told Neil Macleod, eThekwini Municipality Head: Water & Sanitation, that there has to be better communication at times like this. If residents are dealt with honestly and told what the problem is they will understand. It is the lack of communication and misinformation that causes the outrage.”
“The outage was over a wide area. I got phone calls and messages on both Facebook and Twitter from residents in Hillcrest Park, Hillcrest, Gillitts, Kloof, Winston Park and Everton. So this was a big deal. In cases like this I broadcast the information I have over Twitter, Facebook and my website, as it is a very quick way to keep residents informed. The water supply and pressure was finally restored to all residents by 11am on Friday 21 February.”
“Due to air in the system, water to some affected areas was only restored on Tuesday 25 February. On behalf of the municipality, I would like to apologise to all those that were affected by this outage and I would like to thank those members of the Water and Sanitation Department who worked tirelessly day and night to restore the services,” said Councillor Crouch.