Many residents in the Laudium area were gushing with panic, after discovering that the Council installed water meters on their property, suddenly started leaking, causing water to gush out, without any apparent reason, from this past Monday morning (August 29) and even going into Tuesday.
The Laudium Sun received a number of calls from irate residents complaining of water wastage, as water was leaking from their Council installed meters, despite no signs of tampering.
One of the residents, Nafeeza Juma Khan who lives on Taj Street told the Laudium Sun, “When my domestic worker came to work on Monday morning and noticed there was lots of water by the plants, which was near the water meter, she approached me and asked if someone had watered the plants, as she found it strange that the front garden area was so wet, especially at that early part of the morning. I was also surprised and told her to check how come the garden was wet and when she went closer, she noticed that water had been seeping from near the Council water meter, but from underground. I immediately called my daughter to lodge a complaint to the Council, as I was worried that firstly water was being wasted and secondly that our water bill would be going up. She called the Council and they gave her a reference number, but still didn’t come to assist us. It is now Thursday morning (Sept 1) which is four days later and they still have not come to fix the leak. Instead of celebrating Spring our water is springing out. So much water is being wasted. I just hope we are not made to pay for it. This is bad service because we have been without water for four days.”
Another resident, Sandra Batoro who lives on Emerald Street told the Laudium Sun, “Water from our water meter started gushing from around the early parts of Tuesday morning, (August 30). We called the Council about the problem, but they have still not come to fix the problem. It is now Thursday morning (Sept 1). We just hope that we will not be charged for all the water wasted.”
As Councillor Naeem Patel was out of town, the Laudium Sun spoke to his assistant, Shakeel Bhaktawar, who said, “From Monday morning we started receiving numerous calls regarding high water pressure in some homes, as well as at the Bangladesh flats, which caused water leaks from the Council water meters. We also received over 6 reports of burst water meters at homes. At first we were under the impression that these meters were vandalized, which caused the bursts, but on further enquiry it was discovered that it was all relating to excessive water pressure. With the number of complaints increasing during the day, we then called on the Water Department to investigate the matter. We had many homes almost flooded with the gushing water. There was a large quantity of water wastage at that point. The department sent out a team and acknowledged that there was excessive pressure going through the pipeline to these areas. The issue was resolved and all damaged water meters were replaced by Thursday afternoon (Sept 1). We are awaiting a response as to why this problem occurred, specifically what was the cause of the high pressure.”
