By ADRIENNE CARLISLE
The entire city of Grahamstown is now without water after its second major pump station went dark overnight.
This time it was Howieson's Poort pump station -- which feeds the reservoirs on the western side of the city -- that ground to a halt in the face of a major electricity outage.
The already stretched water supply to the city slowly trickled to a complete halt and by 10am nobody had water.
Makana Municipality first went into crisis mode on Sunday when the pumping station at its James Kleynhans Waterworks Treatment Plant to the East of the city flooded, submerging and damaging all the pumps. This left large parts of the city, particularly Grahamstown East, without water.
But by late Monday night, Makana Municipality promised they were back on track. Damaged pump motors were trucked off to East London to be baked (dried) and repaired.
By 10pm last night one spare pump was back in action and pumping at a minimal rate. At the time, Makana Municipal spokeswoman Yoliswa Ramokolo said the municipality was confident all would be normalised by Wednesday in time for the National Arts Festival which kicks off on Thursday.
But the municipality had not banked on electricity outages.
Ramokolo yesterday said an early morning outage stopped the Howieson’s Poort pumps for some hours, leading to the drainage of the western water reservoirs as well as inside and outside lay dams.
She said although the pump stations kicked off again at about 7am it would take at least eight hours to raise the reservoir levels.
“Water will be released from the reservoirs from 5pm.”
She urged residents to use water sparingly when the water returned to their taps.
In better news, she said the lone pump at the James Kleynhans Waterworks Treatment Plant had begun delivering water at 60% of the normal capacity.
The remaining motors sent to East London to dry out were on their way back to the plant. She said they hoped to fit a second pump motor by 10pm tonight and that the plant should then run at full capacity.
Amatole Water and the Department of Water and Sanitation have stepped in to assist the municipality which faces an influx of thousands of visitors to the festival. The festival annually attracts an estimated 220 000 visitors over 11 days.
A recent economic impact study on the festival said it contributes more than R340-million to the GDP of the province and R90-million to Grahamstown’s GDP.
Grahamstown's water woes continue
The entire city of Grahamstown is now without water after its second major pump station went dark overnight.
This time it was Howieson's Poort pump station -- which feeds the reservoirs on the western side of the city -- that ground to a halt in the face of a major electricity outage.
The already stretched water supply to the city slowly trickled to a complete halt and by 10am nobody had water.
Makana Municipality first went into crisis mode on Sunday when the pumping station at its James Kleynhans Waterworks Treatment Plant to the East of the city flooded, submerging and damaging all the pumps. This left large parts of the city, particularly Grahamstown East, without water.
But by late Monday night, Makana Municipality promised they were back on track. Damaged pump motors were trucked off to East London to be baked (dried) and repaired.
By 10pm last night one spare pump was back in action and pumping at a minimal rate. At the time, Makana Municipal spokeswoman Yoliswa Ramokolo said the municipality was confident all would be normalised by Wednesday in time for the National Arts Festival which kicks off on Thursday.
But the municipality had not banked on electricity outages.
Ramokolo yesterday said an early morning outage stopped the Howieson’s Poort pumps for some hours, leading to the drainage of the western water reservoirs as well as inside and outside lay dams.
She said although the pump stations kicked off again at about 7am it would take at least eight hours to raise the reservoir levels.
“Water will be released from the reservoirs from 5pm.”
She urged residents to use water sparingly when the water returned to their taps.
In better news, she said the lone pump at the James Kleynhans Waterworks Treatment Plant had begun delivering water at 60% of the normal capacity.
The remaining motors sent to East London to dry out were on their way back to the plant. She said they hoped to fit a second pump motor by 10pm tonight and that the plant should then run at full capacity.
Amatole Water and the Department of Water and Sanitation have stepped in to assist the municipality which faces an influx of thousands of visitors to the festival. The festival annually attracts an estimated 220 000 visitors over 11 days.
A recent economic impact study on the festival said it contributes more than R340-million to the GDP of the province and R90-million to Grahamstown’s GDP.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos