The construction of the second reservoir at Mowkop in Makhado (Louis Trichardt) is progressing well, with some sections already at roof height.

What a great day it will be when the new 10 mega-litre reservoir is filled with water, especially for residents who have been suffering for nearly five years with daily interruptions in their water supply for the major part of the day. The day scheduled for the completion of the filling of the reservoir with water is 15 February next year.

Vhembe District Municipality’s (VDM) technical manager, Mr Frederick Tshivhengwa, informed the Zoutpansberger on 26 November that the new Mowcop reservoir was nearing roof height. A site visit followed on 29 November. 

The contractor, Shatsane Systems Solutions of Soweto, said that everything was on track. “We shall soon be done with the wall and the roof will start early next year,” said Mr Victor Tsotetsi, Shatsane’s site agent.

The contractor’s timeframes indicate that the “first lift” of the reservoir wall started on 16 July and was completed on 18 September this year. In the first lift, three sections of the reservoir wall were built. The “second lift” proceeded, which included the last three sections of the wall. At the time of the site visit ,the contractor was working on the last section of the wall. Each section required internal formwork to the wall plus columns and steel fixing. Then the consulting engineer would inspect and the external form work and the casting of the concrete wall would follow, with the last step the stripping and finishing off of the concrete. The cost of the project is estimated at R9.5 million.

The new reservoir is the second reservoir at Mowkop and will augment the water supply to town, and in particular to the new extension.

“The consulting engineers, Rendeals Four, were here and they were satisfied,” Tsotetsi said. The engineer on the project, Mr R Madimutsa, was not available for comment.

The hope is that a proper job will be done this time round as the previous contractor, NW Civils, failed to build the reservoir according to specifications and the whole process came to a halt. The reservoir should have been completed in June 2008.