Water woes leave Joburg residents at wits’ end

Caren van Niekerk, who lives in Bertrams in Johannesburg, says for more than a year, water pressure in the area has been so low she can’t fill her geyser. Photo: Kimberly Mutandiro

• Though it is in a valley, water pressure in Bertrams in Johannesburg is so low that the water doesn’t flow into geysers, and appliances such as washing machines can’t be used.
• Residents say whenever City of Johannesburg workers do work on the pipes, they leave more problems than they fix.
• Additionally, residents say they receive large water bills for meters that do not match their accounts.

For more than a year, residents in Bertrams, Johannesburg, have had only a trickle of water from their taps, not enough to use washing machines, or fill geysers.

The low water pressure, despite Bertrams being on the floor of the valley between Kensington and Linksfield ridges, also makes it difficult get enough water into toilet cisterns so they can be flushed. Yet residents say they are receiving high water bills.

Residents GroundUp spoke to say problems started when the City of Johannesburg came to repair leaking pipes and water meters which weren’t working properly.

Resident Caren van Niekerk said since then, taps in her house only drip, even when opened fully, though a standpipe in her yard has “medium flow”.

As a result, van Niekerk, who is 58, and her partner who is a pensioner, have to lug buckets of water from the yard whenever they use their washing machine. And because there is not enough water pressure to fill the geyser, she has to heat water on the stove in order to bath.

She also has to carry water to flush the toilet, though she lives in the middle of a metropolitan municipality.

“It’s difficult to live like this. Sometimes the water taps inside my home completely run dry; I have to keep a few bottles of water for cooking and washing dishes,” she says.

Several other residents in Bertrams, which is next to Ellis Park stadium, face the same problems.

Felicity Charles, who lives with her family, said that though she can’t use her geyser or washing machine, and though there is a constant shortage of water in her home, her water bill comes to R1,800 per month.

Charles says the meter number on her bill does not match the one on her account, and the pipe on her water meter has been leaking ever since City workers came to replace it more than a year ago.

“I think I’m paying someone else’s water bill, and my water bill is really high. Worse still, I’m dealing with low water levels, which has made life really difficult,” said Charles.

Charles, van Niekerk, and other residents say that despite numerous complaints, the City has not come to fix their problems.

Bertrams community representative Angelica Moorcroft said there had been a lot of burst pipes and faulty water meters in the area, and when the City did repair work, workers came late or did “half a job”, leaving residents with more problems.

She said a block of flats with mostly elderly tenants was without water for three weeks this month before City workers were sent to fix the problem.

“The water issue has become a big problem in our area. Many people are complaining that the water pressure in their homes is just too low. The City does not tell us what the problem is, and the community is struggling to cope.”

She said several residents had decided to stop paying for water after discovering they were being billed for water supplied to other properties.

City of Johannesburg spokesperson Virgil James said poor water pressure in most parts of the city may be due to unplanned water maintenance, which comes as a response to leaks and bursts that can take place for several hours in a day. James said water can also be affected by power cuts in an area.

Asked about residents being billed incorrectly, he said residents need to “follow a process to have the meter checked”. “If people suspect that their meter is faulty, they have to check it out with Joburg Water,” he said.

James said high water bills usually indicated a leak on the property. He referred questions about persistent water problems to Joburg Water.

Joburg Water did not respond to GroundUp’s questions.

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