Kimberley Water Supply UPDATE – 6 October 2023

UPDATE: 6 October 2023 – 12:05

The Sol Plaatje Municipality would like to inform the residents about the current nightly water interruptions which is taking place between 21:00pm to 04:00am daily as a result of low water levels at the Newton Reservoir.

The experienced low levels at the Newton Reservoir is a consequence of aged infrastructure at the Riverton Water Treatment Plant and the water leaks on the 900mm and the 600mm bulk pipeline that feed the reservoir. Despite interventions made in fixing major leaks, they re-occured. Also, the current heatwave in the city is exacerbating the situation, making it difficult to maintain safe levels.

The municipality has been monitoring the levels of the reservoirs daily, and water reaching the Newton Reservoir is inadequate to meet safe pumping levels. The desired operating levels for the tanks at the reservoir are as follows:

With the current levels, Kimberley is experiencing low pressure to no water which prompted the Municipality to implement nightly water interruptions to recover the levels of water, and to avoid a total shutdown.

Currently, the Municipality is implementing a 5-year bulk infrastructure program, prominently known as Budget Facility for Infrastructure (BFI), which is subdivided into phases. Phase 1 of the project which is underway, will cover the refurbishment of the Riverton plant with the focus on increasing the capacity of treated water and improving the quality of water.

The primary scope of work at the plant entails the refurbishment of the sand filters and the chemical treatment of water. Furthermore, the 25 water leaks identified on the main bulk pipelines, through the “Smart-Ball” will be repaired, including the replacement of some valves.

The procurement of contractors for these projects is at the bid evaluation stage which is closing on the 26th October 2023. The appointment will be made in mid-November and the works will commence in the beginning of December 2023.

The Riverton Water Treatment Plant is designed for treating at least 162 Mega litres per day (Ml/d), with a storage capacity of 18 Mega litres (Ml). However, the plant is operating at 70% treating only 113Ml/d, while the peak average daily demand is about 80Ml/day. Therefore, the completion of the project will result in a reliable water supply.

Your patience and understanding will be highly appreciated.

Yours in service delivery.
BS MATLALA
MUNICIPAL MANAGER

UPDATE: 4 October 2023 – 15:29

Cllrs. Whittaker and Fourie drove out to Riverton to do an oversight to try and establish why there is apparently not enough water reaching Newton Reservoir. They were unfortunately not able to speak to the Foreman at Riverton as he was involved with a contractor, probably one involved with future upgrading to the facilities.

They then decided to take a look at the repairs carried out recently and could see that some of those repairs were leaking again and at two places, pumps were put out to empty some places where leaks were obvious to see.

Info supplied by Ward 25 Cllr Ockert Fourie and Ward 24 Cllr Chris Whittaker.

UPDATE: 4 October 2023 – 12:30

Many areas in Kimberley currently have little to no water pressure in the taps. No official notice or info has yet been released by Sol Plaatje Municipality with regards to this. Ward 25 Councillor, Ockert Fourie, has stated that he will be conducting an oversight visit today to try and establish what the issue is with the water.

As soon as we receive more info, we will do an update.

Info via Social Media reports.