Repeated water leaks have become routine for residents of a Gqeberha suburb — but Wednesday’s gusher was on another level.
The entire width of a road in Greenshields Park turned into a river, and the garden of an adjoining home was transformed into an unlikely splash pool for birds.
The deluge, at the corner of Pheasant Road and Crane Avenue, was the latest in what residents say has become virtually a weekly feature, with streams of leaking water leaving behind potholes and puddles due to poorly maintained infrastructure.
Ward 3 councillor David Hayselden said the water supply to the area was eventually switched off at about 2pm.
“The leak is on the mainline, so the water has been closed for Greenshields and parts of Walmer.”
Debbie Pretorius, who lives on the corner where the leak erupted, said it was only at daybreak that she realised how huge it was.
“I was putting out the garbage, and I saw water trickling down my gate.
“I sent a message to the Walmer [WhatsApp] group saying that I saw water flowing down the road, and I am not sure if it’s a burst pipe because it was too dark to see,” she said.
“[A complaint was lodged] with the municipality, and by 6.30am when it got a bit lighter, we could see where it was coming from, so we took a video.”
She said many hours passed until her security cameras picked up activity, with municipal plumbers attending to the leak at about 12.30pm.
“It was running well over six hours. The house is flooded. I saw the birds were having a party there.”
A large mound of ground covered with grass and flowers in her garden was evidence of a previous leak.
“There have been a few leaks in Pheasant Road in the last few years.
“In fact, we have a lot of problems in the area. We have no street lights at night.
“It’s not the most upkept place, but the water is a bad situation because we try to save water, but then you see water gushing out, and you cannot do anything about it.
“On Crane Street, there is water trickling down the road in the gutter coming down my house permanently,” she said.
The Herald reporters visited the mega leak several times on Wednesday.
A stream of water almost entirely covered a section of the road, with huge puddles forming in front of several homes.
The water then ran down a drain about 10 houses further down the road.
At 1pm, the water was also still flowing from the intersection down Crane Road.
In 2022, The Herald reported that residents of the suburb waited six months for a big leak to be repaired, only for the same street to spring another leak within a week — this time from a hole dug by municipal workers.
Mark Whitnall, who lives further down the road, said the leaks were part and parcel of Greenshields Park.
“They took a couple of days to fix the last one. We have had quite a few. You can see the potholes because we don’t have drainage.
“We can only assume it is a lack of maintenance and the lack of manpower for people to come regularly to work on the system. But it breaks down often,” he said.
Michael John said the repeated leaks resulted in the wastage of large quantities of clean water.
“There is a new leak weekly in different spots, and it [sometimes] takes days for someone to respond,” he said.
Municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya did not respond to questions by the time of publication.
The Herald
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