The Sol Plaatje municipality has decided to halt the controlled switching off of water in the evenings after water levels at the Newton Reservoir stabilised.

The municipality embarked on the water switch-off spree for two consecutive weekends recently after the main pipe, which supplies water to the CBD and townships burst. Residents were left without water, which impacted negatively on businesses too.

After the repair of the burst pipes, the municipality decided to switch off water in the evenings to let the water levels rise. Municipal spokesperson Sello Matsie said three of the four dams at the Newton reservoir were now at 13.5 feet.

“The fourth dam, which is still empty, will be filled once these three reach their maximum capacity of 16 feet. Hence we have taken a decision to stop cutting the supply of water to residents in the evening because problems were picked up with the opening and closing of the valves.”

Matsie said they picked up that some valves were not being opened, “which meant that some parts of town were not getting water even though the supply was enough”.

He said they were finally in a position where the inflow was exceeding consumption.

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