Terry Schemel, Parklands
I am concerned that the municipality is crying that we have a water crisis and shortages, yet they are abusing our available drinking water.
New water mains are being installed in North Road, Table View, and they are using a method of blasting the pipes underground with high-pressure water.
On enquiring with the contractor they confirmed that they are using the potable water from the existing mains.
Please investigate and confirm why they are not using non-potable or even sea water. How many litres do they use for every 10m of pipe laid?
They must be using a vast quantity of our drinking water. I cannot even use my hosepipe to wash a car? Surely they must be breaking the law ?
City spokesman Simon Maytham responds:
We’ve done an investigation here and found nothing like what this resident is describing.
The way he describes it he makes it sound like the pipes are being filled up with water until they burst, but this is not the case.
A machine that works using hydraulics is used to crack/widen the old pipes before the new ones are installed, but there is no jetting/spray of water in this process.
We suspect then that he misunderstood whoever he spoke to on site.
