The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality is racing against time to plug the more than 3000 identified water leaks around the Metro that are putting massive pressure on the region’s rapidly declining dam levels.
On Tuesday, the municipality’s combined dam levels were hovering at around 11.93% capacity but the Churchill Dam, at just 8%, only has water available for a few more days.
The onset of day zero is now feared at just a few days away.
The Metro’s joint operations centre (JOC), that includes the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber, said on Monday that it had established two interventions that will soon deal decisively with the water leaks issue currently before council.
JOC spokesperson Luvuyo Bangazi, who also speaks on behalf of the business chamber, told a media briefing that there are currently 3163 water leaks in total that would be attended to through these interventions.
Bangazi says the first intervention is an agreement between the municipality and the Bay Business Chamber.
“This intervention relates to members of the chamber coming together in solidarity with all us and bringing on board their skills [and] their expertise,” he said, “and obviously the resources that are available to them to team up with the city to deal with water leaks,” said Bangazi.
He said the second intervention would see the implementation of a work plan agreed to on Monday between the Metro and contractors appointed to fix water leaks.
Bangazi said as from Tuesday the contractors would be dispatched across the city to possibly identify more areas.
He said specific targets had been set and that by the end of business on Friday, 24 June, they would be able to report on the progress made.
“All 3163 leaks have been identified to be completed by then,” said Bangazi.
“So if there’s any reporting in terms of successes and failures, I guess we’ll see by the end of Friday."
