Louis Trichardt faced a renewed serious water crisis this week, due to an apparent serious lapse in procurement planning.

Emergency measures were introduced on Wednesday when the Albasini water purification plant was completely shut down, due to a chemical supply crisis. No replacement cylinder was available in the municipal stores when the last available chlorine gas cylinder suffered a fatal blockage on Tuesday night.

The shutdown resulted in a total disruption of the main water supply source of the town while water levels in the main reservoirs were already at dangerously low levels. Residents were urgently requested to assist by respecting the existing water restrictions and to curb usage in any other possible way, while emergency supply measures were put in place.

Without the input from Albasini, the town’s main reservoir runs dry within five to eight hours. The main Mowkop reservoir was already completely empty on Wednesday morning. The Bergh Street reservoir was down to 30% and the Thsikota reservoir between 18 % and 20%. Once empty, it may take weeks to replenish the supplies in all the reservoirs.

Water tankers were already deployed on Wednesday morning with emergency water supplies at strategic places in the eastern residential areas which were immediately affected by the crises. The rest of the town was serviced from 14 boreholes with an ability to supply only 30% of the town’s need. Normal water pressure was down in the entire town. A rusty colour in most of the tap water was ascribed to low water levels and periodic stoppages in the network.

According to the acting director of technical services of the Makhado Municipality, Mr Freddie Mamureni, the shutting down of the pumps at the Albasini purification plant was necessitated by a chlorine gas cylinder blockage, discovered on Tuesday night. As an emergency measure, new cylinders were requested and received from the Department of Water Affairs and it was expected that normal pumping would be resumed later on Wednesday. According to Mamureni, the supply of chlorine gas cylinders is arranged by the municipality’s official procurement committee with suppliers which, on order, replace empty cylinders. The unforeseen blockage called for alternative emergency measures.

When questioned about the availability of the vital gas cylinders, Mamureni confirmed that there was no back-up supply of cylinders in the municipal stores. He admitted that it is important to have such a reserve supply.

The need for the replenishment of such supplies should, in the normal run of events, be signalled by the municipal water superintendent to the person in charge of the municipal main stores, who would in turn order the necessary supplies from the supplier contracted by the municipal procurement committee.

However, according to usually reliable sources with close municipal council links, a breakdown in the supply of water purification chemicals to the municipality could have resulted from an ill-advised policy decision by the procurement committee.