TLM addresses water crises

Thabazimbi – The newly inaugurated mayor, councillor John Fischer, has declared Thabazimbi’s water supply a major crisis.

According to a press release by the Thabazimbi Local Municipality (TLM) earlier this week, there are three main factors affecting the water supply in Thabazimbi and surrounds, namely: the reduction of water volumes from Magalies Water, dilapidated civil and electricity infrastructure, and poor leakage management.

Due to insufficient incoming water supply, the pump station can only run for a few hours and needs to then stop to accumulate reasonable water levels.  

During this process, areas that are physically elevated, experience low pressure due to low reservoir levels, resulting in no water supply. This particularly effects Regorogile extension five and 4th Avenue, Diederik and Arend Avenue in Thabazimbi.

Because of the continuous water interruptions, TLM has initiated a project to refurbish the pump station and all critical components including the resuscitation of a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system to monitor the entire structure. The current system has been thoroughly maintained with the assistance of our stakeholders, specifically Anglo America Platinum’s Amandelbult Complex.

Both electrical supply and installation of two new motors and alignment of the pumps were recently completed. 

The other critical maintenance component is the management of leakages on the bulk line due to ageing infrastructure. 

The leakages have been repaired and water transmission should not be interrupted. The borehole complex (B7) has been retrofitted with a bigger pump to augment the current incoming water supply. The current annual average daily demand is 8.9ML/d and TLM provides approximately 11ML/d.
To reduce water loss, leak repairs have been initiated by the municipal manager.

TLM has one water tanker to cater for its area of jurisdiction, including informal settlements. Requests for water tanking should be made at the TLM technical department.

All communiques regarding water interruptions are shared with the communication manager and problems can be reported to the customer care manager on 060 961 3719 or alternatively the water standby team on 083 703 2805.