New plan (and contract) to stop town's water shortages

Date: 28 July 2018 By: Jo Robinson

Work has begun on the new reservoir to be built in Kort Street, Louis Trichardt, with the demolishing of the old one.

“The new reservoir here will hold one megalitre of water and pump from here to the Berg Street reservoir. We will be refurbishing the current building here for the new pumphouse and treatment plant,” said Mr Phatu Mudayu of Bics Engineering, the contractors for the project.

Mr David Mukosi of the Vhembe Water Service Authority explained that all of the town’s 16 current municipal boreholes had been targeted by thugs and thieves and destroyed. “Vandalism is a very serious issue around town. Even all the cables were stolen. We have to make sure that this new water system is properly managed and policed as far as security is concerned, or it will become a white elephant,” said Mukosi. He continued to say that the source of water for the new reservoir would be pumped from six of the 16 boreholes, which are to be completely refurbished after having been rendered completely useless with all moveable pieces stolen, including all the transformers.

As far as future security for the new buildings and equipment is concerned, Mudayu said that they had already demolished the previous reservoir and the palisade fencing around it. “We’re going to build concrete walls around the reservoir and around all of the six pumping stations. There will be electric fencing on top of these walls as a further deterrent. We will also be building guard houses inside the walls at each station, and there will be a security guard for every one of them,” said Mudayu.

Mukosi said that, at the moment, the Berg Street reservoir was getting water from the Albasini Dam, but that that would not be necessary in the future. “With the new system, each borehole will have its own pump and chlorine treatment works. From the new reservoir, water will be pumped to Berg Street and from there to the Hospital Street reservoir and the Extension 7 reservoir,” said Mukosi.

Mr Brian du Plooy, DA ward councillor for Louis Trichardt, said that, once completed, this reservoir would supply all the water required for the entire western side of the town, including Tshikota. He said that the funding for this contract by Vhembe was slightly in excess of R21 million, including contingencies, and that the time set out to completion was 52 weeks from now. “Then we can begin on the eastern side of town,” he said. “The aim is to get it all this sorted out. When this western phase is complete, we should have water 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Du Plooy.

Mukosi agreed that with this new reservoir up and running, water stoppages should come to an end.

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Jo Robinson

Jo joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2018 pursuing a career in journalism after many years of writing fiction and non-fiction for other sectors.

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