Nelson Mandela Bay residents told to expect week-long water outages
Over the last four days, we have seen three major electricity outages that have affected our ability to transfer water into the city, the mayor said
13 March 2023 - 11:59
by Staff Writer
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Residents in Nelson Mandela Bay may experience water outages of up to a week at a time as the city blocked supply to some reservoirs to redirect water to areas that have not had water for days.
In a statement on Sunday, mayor Retief Odendaal said recent power outages and residents’ failure to reduce water consumption worsened the crisis.
“Over the last four days we have seen three major electricity outages that have affected our ability to transfer water into the city. The latest one being a substation that has exploded in the Coega IDZ last night.
“This has seriously affected our ability to stabilise the system amid our constraints in supply, which simply can’t meet demand,” Odendaal said.
“We have therefore started to block water supply to some reservoirs in a bid to redirect water to zones that have been without water for days. This will mean that different areas will start experiencing water outages, which may last for up to a week.
“We have to say that we are really disappointed that consumer behaviour is nonresponsive to this crisis. While there are so many people doing their utmost in conserving our precious water resources, there are those who remain irresponsible by refusing to change their water consumption lifestyle.”
He reiterated that the use of a garden hose connected to a municipal supply — including filling storage tanks — was prohibited.
Filling of swimming pools with municipal supply and using water for construction purposes was also prohibited.
“Fines of up to R5,000 will be issued to anyone found to have contravened our restriction notices.”
On Saturday, a fire in the Coega IDZ damaged an electricity substation.
This tripped the Aloes substation, leaving large parts of the city — including Motherwell and Bluewater Bay — without power.
The outage affected the Motherwell pump station, which meant that water from the Nooitgedacht line could not be pumped into the city.
“This is a very serious outage and has a severe impact on Coega IDZ,” Odendaal said in a statement.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Nelson Mandela Bay residents told to expect week-long water outages
Over the last four days, we have seen three major electricity outages that have affected our ability to transfer water into the city, the mayor said
Residents in Nelson Mandela Bay may experience water outages of up to a week at a time as the city blocked supply to some reservoirs to redirect water to areas that have not had water for days.
In a statement on Sunday, mayor Retief Odendaal said recent power outages and residents’ failure to reduce water consumption worsened the crisis.
“Over the last four days we have seen three major electricity outages that have affected our ability to transfer water into the city. The latest one being a substation that has exploded in the Coega IDZ last night.
“This has seriously affected our ability to stabilise the system amid our constraints in supply, which simply can’t meet demand,” Odendaal said.
“We have therefore started to block water supply to some reservoirs in a bid to redirect water to zones that have been without water for days. This will mean that different areas will start experiencing water outages, which may last for up to a week.
“We have to say that we are really disappointed that consumer behaviour is nonresponsive to this crisis. While there are so many people doing their utmost in conserving our precious water resources, there are those who remain irresponsible by refusing to change their water consumption lifestyle.”
He reiterated that the use of a garden hose connected to a municipal supply — including filling storage tanks — was prohibited.
Filling of swimming pools with municipal supply and using water for construction purposes was also prohibited.
“Fines of up to R5,000 will be issued to anyone found to have contravened our restriction notices.”
On Saturday, a fire in the Coega IDZ damaged an electricity substation.
This tripped the Aloes substation, leaving large parts of the city — including Motherwell and Bluewater Bay — without power.
The outage affected the Motherwell pump station, which meant that water from the Nooitgedacht line could not be pumped into the city.
“This is a very serious outage and has a severe impact on Coega IDZ,” Odendaal said in a statement.
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