Grahamstown is facing another daunting water crisis days before thousands of visitors pour into the city for the National Arts Festival.
One of the city’s major pumping stations flooded on Sunday‚ damaging pumps and leaving huge swathes of the city without water.
Grahamstown East‚ some parts of the CBD‚ Rhodes University and many high-lying areas were left without water. Water pressure in other parts of the city remained dismally low late on Monday afternoon.
But officials‚ festival management and businesses remained hopeful the situation would be resolved before the festival kicked off on Thursday.
Makana municipality‚ with support from Amatola Water‚ the cooperative governance and traditional affairs department and Sarah Baartman district municipality on Monday moved swiftly to try and resolve the water catastrophe.
Matters were made worse by veld fires burning ferociously south of Grahamstown near the N2.
Makana fire chief William Welkom said late on Monday afternoon that no properties had been damaged and they remained hopeful that predicted late night rains would assist them to put out the persistent fires.
He said the fire department’s water supply had not been affected by the outages.
The outages in Grahamstown East on Sunday morning alerted the municipality to the problem.
Senior Makana officials‚ including acting municipal manager Riana Meiring‚ reportedly rushed to the James Kleynhans water treatment works and pump station at Glen Melville Dam‚ east of Grahamstown‚ after an employee reported he had found the pump station under water.
By midmorning on Monday‚ the municipality reported that the failure of a gland follower (seal) in the second pump on the non-drive end had caused the problem.
The water was pumped out of the pump station and the pump motors removed and trucked to East London.
Municipal spokeswoman Yoliswa Ramokola said one of the pumps had been coupled to a new motor.
She predicted that if the pressure testing of cables was successful and the pump alignment completed then at least one of the pumps could begin work. It would nevertheless be pumping at a much lower capacity than normal.
In the meantime‚ water tankers were delivering water to all affected areas‚ she said.
The municipality is also conducting an investigation into the disaster and indicated it would deal appropriately with any officials found to have been responsible.
National Arts Festival chief executive officer Tony Lankester said it was difficult to comment on the evolving situation‚ but everyone was working towards having the supply restored.
“We are hopeful that‚ by the time festival starts on Thursday‚ the water supply will be restored.”
Makana Unity League chair Professor Owen Skae said it was unsettling this should happen with the festival imminent. “Grahamstown East residents once again get the brunt of service delivery issues.”
Grahamstown Business Forum committee member Eugene Repinz‚ who owns the Graham Hotel and other hospitality businesses‚ said they were deeply concerned about the situation.
The Graham Hotel‚ which sleeps 80 people and is fully booked for the festival‚ had no water.
“It is very trying. I just hope the municipality is sharp for the festival‚” Repinz said.
– TMG Digital/Daily Dispatch
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