Residents of Howick West, particularly along Cosmo Road and Sparks Road, say they have been battling water shortages for years, with the latest disruption leaving them without water for more than a week due to repeated pipe bursts in the area. The ongoing crisis has been blamed on ageing asbestos water pipes, which residents say continue to fail despite repeated complaints to the uMgungundlovu District Municipality. Streets and properties have been flooded by leaking pipes, while households are left without running water and no alternative supply.
Lately, they said a month doesn’t go by without burst pipes, often leaving them without water for days. Shirley Rammarayan said they have to always ensure their water bottles and other containers in the house are filled whenever water comes back on as that too never lasts long. On Tuesday we didn’t have water the whole day and when it finally came the next day, it didn’t last that long.
We are currently surviving on stored water because we don’t even get water tankers when we are faced with this situation. “I had a health emergency on Thursday morning and having to boil and fill water for a bath was a nightmare,” said Rammarayan. Residents said when they lodged the fault with uMgungundlovu District on Thursday, they were told there were no tractor loader backhoes (TLBs) available as all were broken.
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“Not having a TLB to adequately attend to burst pipes is not an excuse. Weekends are also not an excuse for not being able to attend to breakdowns. “This problem causes a huge inconvenience for all of us, as people need water to bathe, cook, for sanitation, clean, school kids need to bathe and get ready for school. “Having no water, especially in the mornings and evenings, is ridiculous,” said another resident.
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