After last year’s dreary festive season with dry taps, will water be flowing this Christmas in Makhado (Louis Trichardt)?

The  municipal manager of Vhembe District Municipality (VDM), Mr Masala Makhumule, said with cautious optimism that the situation will be better than last year. “The Albasini plant is pumping very well at the moment and Mowkop reservoir is 75% full. We have confidence that, in terms of pumping, and if we don’t have any disruptions, we expect a much better situation this Christmas,” Makhumule said on Thursday.

Extra measures to get closer to a consistent water supply to town were agreed upon between the VDM and AfriForum at an important meeting between the two parties in Pretoria on 26 November.

“Vhembe agreed to send us an action plan on how they are going to tackle the challenges. We reserve our right to approach the court in the event that Vhembe does not effectively implement their action plan,” said AfriForum attorney Werner Human on Tuesday.

“I believe that the court order as it stands is not enough to bring water flowing consistently to town and that is why I have asked for these urgent extra conditions to be accepted by Vhembe,” said Mr Wally Schultz, chairperson of AfriForum Louis Trichardt.

The meeting took place at the request of the VDM to establish whether they had complied with the High Court order or not and to discuss the way forward. It was established by mutual agreement that while the VDM had made significant progress in complying with the court order and its final demand that consistent water flow to town, there were still many challenges that needed urgent attention before AfriForum could even consider suspending the court order.

The VDM’s action plan should address several important aspects:

*There should be an “Action Repair Plan”, following on a full inspection tour of all water-related facilities. The VDM agreed to complete an inspection tour of all pump stations, boreholes and related facilities to assess their condition. Their state and the detailed actions required to repair them should be submitted in a report to AfriForum.

*Urgent action with regard to the 14 boreholes southwest of the town is required. These boreholes supply the “old town” with water.  “The situation had reached intolerable levels. Due to the dysfunctional boreholes where, at times, not one of the 14 boreholes was in working order, residents in this part of town have endured an interrupted water supply for months,” Schultz said

*Security is one of the most pressing issues. The situation of theft and vandalism has reached unacceptable proportions and has primarily been responsible for the continuing dysfunction of the old borehole network. Makhumule agreed that the telemetric security option was going to be implemented as a matter of urgency.

* An effective alternative water supply to the reservoirs has to be established to operate during the times that the pump station at the Albasini dam has to be shut down. “Because the existing pipeline from Albasini is an ageing one, there could be ongoing leaks on the line which would require a shut-down of the Albasini pump station, which in actual fact has in recent weeks lasted up to ten days,” Schultz said. The two parties agreed that it was an intolerable situation that residents in town did not have any water because of a lack of an alternative supply. AfriForum suggested bringing the four new boreholes into the system – or to drill new boreholes close to all the existing reservoirs. “This will ensure that, when expected leaks occur on the ageing pipeline and the pump station at Albasini has to be shut down, the boreholes will supplement the supply to the reservoirs and there will be no interruption to the water flow,” Schultz said.

The court order by the North Gauteng High Court obtained on 2 October last year addresses issues like the debushing of the Albasini  pipeline, the drilling of four new boreholes in town and the communication of water supply interruptions. According to the order, there should be a consistent water supply from 04:00 to 10:00 and from 16:00 to 20:00.

VDM’s lawyer, Mr David Mulaudzi, said on Thursday that Vhembe’s action plan was ready and would be sent. The plan will be scrutinized by Schultz and his deputy chairperson, Mr Duncan Campbell, an experienced engineer, and added to if necessary.