NELSON MANDELA BAY - NMB MUNICIPALITY COMMITS TO ATTENDING TO WATER LEAKS WITHIN 12 HOURS

The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has declared all-out war on water leaks in the Metro.

The City has introduced a multi-million rand water leaks project.

In an unprecedented move the City plans to achieve a tight turnaround time of 12 hours for the attendance of water leakages.

Seven plumbing companies were appointed to enable the Municipality to achieve this turnaround time and to eradicate the huge backlog of a reported 15 000 water leaks across the Metro.

This against the continuing drought that sees the Municipality hard pressed to meet residents' water demands.

The introduction of this R15 million water leaks project is led by the Mayoral Committee Member heading the Municipality's Infrastructure and Engineering Portfolio, Councillor Andile Lungisa.

The rapid response to the water leaks problem comes as the Metro is dealing with the global COVID-19 pandemic, which demands that all citizens should have access to water to adhere to government’s health regulations.

As at May 20, 1119 water leaks had already been fixed since the project started earlier this month.

“When communities are reporting water leaks, it must not take more than 12 hours for any leak to be attended to by the Municipality. We cannot afford to lose water through leaks. Since we appointed the seven companies, we have managed to fix 710 water leaks, but we are saying we must be able to ramp it up more and move with speed.”

On a monthly basis, the Metro loses altogether 28% of its total consumption of water just to water leaks - a huge loss, as every drop counts.

The Metro's water woes continue, as the average level of our supply dams has dwindled to a worrisome 21.56%.

At the launch, residents from water leaks hotspot areas were encouraged to report leaks on the tollfree number 0800 20 50 50 or send emails towaterleaks@mandelametro.gov.za for a quick response.

The hotspot areas identified, include:

-Despatch

-Khayamnandi

-Bloemendal

-Bethelsdorp

-KwaNobuhle and;

-KwaLanga.

“While these plumbing companies will also work in the suburbs, we decided to launch it in areas with a huge number of informal settlements,” Councillor Lungisa added.

While the project is continuous, Councillor Lungisa said one of the the long-term solutions to Nelson Mandela Bay’s water shortage was the development of desalination.

Issued by Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Communications Office.

via - nmbmunicipality