Water problems in parts of Tzaneen can be attributed to more than just an empty reservoir. On Thursday morning, the 17th of September, five residents reported stolen water meters in Circle Drive, Park street and MediPark which caused huge volumes of water to spew into the sky. The GTM’s water management team were quick to respond and had to shut down the water supply to these areas in order to repair the damage.
“We are losing between five and seven meters a day due to theft and its costing the municipality money. A meter costs almost R500, plus the cost of repairing the leaks. When we repair these leaks we have to switch off supply which affects our residents. We are also losing thousands of liters of purified water due to this theft. We suspect that the meters are being stolen to be sold as scrap metals. We will engage the SAPS to look closely into the matter,” said GTM Head of Communications, Neville Ndlala.
In the meantime, a water pipe was struck by a drill during horizontal drilling exercise in Arbor park earlier this week which caused the entire neighbourhood to sit without water for a good portion of an entire day. The damage was done by a contractor affiliated to the Frogfoot fibre installers currently digging up the town.
