The planned water outage affecting the bulk water supply to the communities of Kriel in Emalahleni Local Municipality started well on 4 August 2015 and will end on 16 August 2015. All prior preparations and good planning and coordination in this regard have led to a smooth start and operation.
The outage is as a result of Eskom constructing of a railway line from Ermelo to Majuba Power Station. The railway line crosses the Department of Water and Sanitation’s (DWS) pipeline between Rietspruit reservoir and Davel. Eskom therefore requested an outage to tie in the permanent deviation of the pipeline to the existing structure as per DWS approved design.
The deviation of the structure has been approved by the DWS engineers and they are involved with the quality control during the construction phase. This is phase 2 of the tie-in project which is the final phase as phase 1 was done in February 2015. This also affords the department the chance for opportune maintenance and repair work on the bulk pipeline.
For the duration of the outage the communities are supplied with water through strategically placed jojo tanks within a reasonable distance in their areas of residence.
The department, Emalahleni Local Municipality and all stakeholders involved request patience and co-operation from all who are affected so that the planned outage period is not unduly exceeded. Please consider everyone in the supply system; make storage preparations if possible and use available water sparingly and optimally.
The department apologises for the inconvenience caused; however this planned outage is important for maintenance and sustainability of the infrastructure.
For more information contact:
Sputnik Ratau
Cell: 082 874 2942
