Update Video
GEORGE NEWS & VIDEO - Erika Koekemoer and her pensioner mother, Joanna Kritzinger, used up all their airtime two weekends ago phoning the municipality after a water pipe burst outside their house in the Provincial Administration (PA) Camp in York Street.
The housing camp is located between the municipal bus depot and the Checkers centre.
Koekemoer told the George Herald that she first tried to contact the caretaker of the Camp but could not get hold of him. “Out of desperation I started phoning the municipality.”
She said the pipe burst on Saturday 13 November at 15:00.
"I phoned the municipality repeatedly as the water was spewing out knee high for hours. A municipal truck with a small water tank arrived at 11:30 on Sunday morning and they turned off the water."
Watch a video below:
Chantel Edwards-Klose, George municipal spokesperson confirmed that the property on which the pipe burst belongs to the Department of Public Works.
“The municipality supplied a water tank to assist the residents and closed the water supply to avoid further losses.”
On Monday morning Koekemoer said the water tank was empty and that no one has arrived to fix the pipe. "We still don’t have water,” she said. The water was restored on Monday evening.
Koekemoer was upset that it took nearly 24 hours for the municipality to react to her calls.
“We have a water shortage in George and try our best to save water, but to stand around for hours and watch the water running off to the river is terrible. It must have been tens of thousands of litres.”
Byron la Hoe spokesperson for the Department of Public Works confirmed that a pipe burst on its property did occur.
“As soon as the pipe burst was brought to the attention of our George office on Monday, a contractor was immediately dispatched to the site to attend to the repair work required.
Due to technical constraints with the existing infrastructure on the site the final repair could only be completed on Tuesday afternoon and the municipal water supply was restored on Wednesday morning.
The tanker provided by the municipality was refilled by the contractor for the use of the affected tenants on the site until the water supply was restored.”
Read related articles:
ARTICLE & VIDEO: MYRON RABINOWITZ, GEORGE HERALD JOURNALIST
'We bring you the latest George, Garden Route news'
