The community of the mining village of Blyvoor in Carletonville, on the West Rand, has been left high and dry after the municipality allegedly cut off its water supply.

Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), which represented the community in their court battles with the Merafong municipality, claim that a payment dispute between the council and Rand Water led to the disconnection of water.

Certain villages in Blyvoor have been without water since Friday the 18th of November. They have been relying on water tankers supplied by the council.

Community leaders, however, said the municipality had reduced the water pressure to about 5%, going against the order set out by North Gauteng High Court judge Jody Kollapen last month, which stated that the council should maintain flow of not less than 60%. The court also ordered the council not to interfere with water supply.

However, only two out of four sections of Blyvoor had running water. Residents of Hill, New Village and parts of Fid started getting trucked water.

"We still don't know why the pressure was reduced without anyone notifying us as per instructions from court. Rand Water officials told us that the municipality had told them to reduce it," said community activist Pule Molefe, who instituted the court interdict against Merafong last year.

"Initially, council reduced the pressure by 60% and not to 60% as the court instructed them. That left us with 20% flow, which went down even further when government ordered for the pressure to be reduced by 15% nationally to deal with the drought crisis."

Rand Water workers were yesterday seen working at a water pump at the village. They said they were told to increase pressure in order to restore normal water flow.

Michael Clements from LHR said they were shocked by the disconnection, which diverted from the court order. "We understand that there is a payment dispute between Rand Water and council and Blyvoor residents have been caught in the middle of it," Clements said.

Fatima Cossa said she had been struggling since the water cut. "I couldn't drink water, flush my toilet or even do my house chores. It's been a worst inconvenience for us," Cossa said after filling her six 20-litre drums from a water tanker.

New Village resident Nyakane Sihlolo said the quality of the trucked water was so poor that it caused him a runny stomach.

Residents of Blyvoor had been experiencing problems since Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mine shut its doors three years ago.

Over 1000 residents of Blyvoor Village, a property that was owned by the mining company, were left with a R300-million water debt. After several water disconnections by council, the matter was taken to court, which ruled in favour of the community. Eskom is also making plans to cut the village's power supply due to an R8-million debt.

Rand Water spokesman Justice Mohale referred all questions to the Merafong municipality, which had not responded to Sowetan's questions at the time of going to print.