LARGE parts of Nelson Mandela Bay will be without water for at least a week after two feeder pipes from dams supplying a large percentage of the city’s water needs burst yesterday (02/08/2012).
About a third of the northern and southern parts of the Bay will be affected.
The announcement was made by mayor Zanoxolo Wayile at an emergency media conference yesterday, where he appealed to residents and businesses to conserve water while engineers tried to fix the problem.
The municipality will dispatch water tankers to the affected areas until the water supply is restored.
The affected areas include: Central, Deal Party, Summerstrand, Humewood, North End, Korsten, Struandale, Mount Pleasant, Lovemore Park, Lovemore Heights, Algoa Park, Struandale, Gelvandale, Gelvan Park and parts of New Brighton and Kwazakhele
Infrastructure and engineering acting executive director Barry Martin said the pipes had burst near the Van Stadens River Resort in the early hours of yesterday and the reservoirs were expected to run dry by midday.
The pipelines that supply the city with water from the Churchill and Impofu dams collapsed.
Martin said water from the remaining two sources – Loerie and Nooitgedagt (Gariep Dam) – were being rerouted to limit the number of areas affected.
The repairs were already under way and large construction equipment had been moved to the damaged pipelines for work to begin.
Martin appealed to residents and businesses to limit their water use, particularly over the next five days.
He said the water usage was expected to normalise in about two weeks.
Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber chief executive Kevin Hustler said the lack of water would have an impact on businesses operating within the affected areas, as many processes relied on water.
"As this situation has occurred close to the weekend, we would hope that we do not see business brought to a standstill.
"We strongly encourage people in the residential areas affected to use water only as necessary.”
