Residents fed up with water issues

Residents in Betty’s Bay and to a lesser extent Kleinmond and Pringle Bay have been struggling with pipe bursts and low water pressure for years now.

A majority of residents feel that although the pipe bursts are addressed the general problem is ageing infrastructure and nothing has been done about that for years.

Cllr Clinton Lerm, who forms part of the Mayoral Committee team and is currently the chairperson of Investment and Infrastructure, says Overstrand Municipality is aware of an inordinate number of pipe bursts within the Betty’s Bay area as well as Pringle Bay and Kleinmond. “By request of the Mayor, an urgent meeting was held with ward councillors Theresa Els and Grant Cohen as well as the municipal officials. At the meeting the exact cause of the issue was discussed and it’s clear our primary problem has been identified as ageing infrastructure and the densification of the areas. Currently one kilometre of pipe replacement is estimated at a cost of R1,5 million. Initial figures to ensure a way forward is estimated to be in the region of about R30 million,” says Lerm.

He says a while ago Pringle Bay had similar problems with regular pipe bursts. “Systematically we replaced all of the pipes, when we had the funding to do so. With the current situation in Betty’s Bay we believe that not only is the aging infrastructure blamed but also low water pressure. We are busy investigating this matter.”What is it like living with regular pipe bursts and no water?. René Kaljee says the water outages are far worse than Eskom’s outages. “The latter were more or less predictable as there is always some schedule and one can plan around it. Dry taps due to broken pipes happen out of the blue with no warning,” says Kaljee.. Helen Gschwendtner, the owner of a laundry business in Betty’s Bay, says the problems have escalated within the last year. “I don’t think it is just the old pipes in the system. I think the problem is the people who come to fix the bursts are not capable of doing their job as it is too much to handle for one person.” . Natasha Beyers asks how it is that all the residents of this area need to be satisfied with the poor service delivery of supply of water and how is it possible that there is never budget to address this. “I have lived in the city most of my life where we never encountered these problems. Residents often go for days without water as it has happened previously where the supply was nothing and lasted for 72 hours. I guess my point is not all residents can afford JoJo tanks or even buy 5l of water. This is a reality. You always find these curtain twitchers giving their biased opinions on various groups without sparing a thought for the less privileged. My question ultimately is what happens to the rates and taxes we pay?”. Nicola Lloyd says the water in Pringle Bay is brown and she doesn’t drink it as it affects her stomach. “No one, including the laundry in town, can wash white linen. The water has been like this for months. That’s apart from the frequent burst pipes.”. Sandy Immelman believes the surge in new residential development (especially since Covid-19 made Betty’s Bay a “Zoom Town”) has placed excessive strain on the aging water-supply infrastructure. “There are pipes bursting every few days – and I admire the speed that these are attended to – but often, just tracking the source takes hours, and then it would seem patch-ups are being done when in fact, the whole system seems to require replacement/upgrading.”. Laurence Weddell, who owns two guest houses in Betty’s Bay, says they received the worst ever reviews from guests after he had to deliver drinking water and water to flush toilets to his guests. “The town had sold out of all water. My guests were effectively without water for two full days plus then all the intermittent break downs that are happening continuously. I received my worst reviews ever based on my guest’s experience. One set of guests couldn’t get a change of linen because the water was out the whole day, and the laundromat couldn’t do the laundry. As a guesthouse we rely on our ratings and reviews to attract guests, guests that come and spend their hard-earned money in the local economy. I know that the guests affected by this issue won’t ever be back here. They said as much.”. Terry and Janet Longman moved to Betty’s Bay over five years ago when “everything was working well”.

“However, over the past two to three years we are regularly without water or have such a slow trickle that we cannot even shower. This is a weekly, sometimes more than once a week, occurrence. We wonder why, if reports are correct, only 20% of Betty’s Bay rates is channelled back into operating our village and maintaining infrastructure here. Surely this is unfair?”Meeting to address the issues