Residents fume over lack of water for nearly a week

A pipe burst has left most of Bloemfontein without water for almost a week, resulting in residents walking long distances to fetch water from tankers.

The water supply was shut down last Thursday because of a burst pipe at Masselpoort Dam just outside the city centre.

This is despite the statement released by Mangaung metro last week that the water would be restored by Sunday afternoon. However, by lunch time on Tuesday a number of residential areas were still without water.

According to the municipality, a second pipe burst on Sunday evening.

The residents are fuming as they have to travel for kilometres to access water from allocated points.

“For the past five days my water has been cut off. We have to travel about 5km to get water. This is really unacceptable. Water is life and without it there is absolutely nothing we can do. We are also concerned about the well-being of people, including pensioners, who have to wait in long queues for water," said Thapelo Mancoe of Bophelong township.

Another resident, Mokone Thipe of Rocklands, said it's getting difficult for him to make a living as he runs a car wash business.

"I  have not been working since Friday. I make a living by washing cars and now that there is no water we cannot operate. This is  making it hard for us to survive," he said.

"We hear the pipe had burst but we are the ones mostly affected. The water trucks have not been coming at all, so where are we supposed to get water from?"

Bloem Water said they are working around the clock to restore the water supply.

Spokesperson Kido Thoabala said the failure of the pipe component inside a chamber occurred on Thursday at Masselpoort Dam.

"We can confirm that the repairs have now commenced on the affected component. The community will be kept abreast of when the repairs will be completed," she said.

Thoabala added that water tankers will be deployed to key areas that are affected until the situation improves.

She further said one employee died while working on restoring water.

"It is regrettable that during this incident, one Bloem Water official lost his life and the family has been informed, The details of his death are not yet clear at the moment," she said.

Mangaung mayor Mxolisi Siyonzana said the metro was working closely with Bloem Water to restore the water supply.

"We are particularly concerned about the water situation in our city and how much it has affected the residents. We are however working tirelessly to solve the problem. We apologise to residents for the inconvenience it may have caused," he said.