Eighty-one homes in a residential complex in Fish Hoek went without running water for four days despite dozens of phone calls to the City.
According to residents at Seaside Cottages, the water was disconnected due to a burst pipe on Friday August 12 and was only fixed on Monday August 16, leaving them to find their own alternative water sources.
Leonie Howe-Watson, who manages the rental properties at Seaside Cottages, said their reputation as a holiday resort had suffered.
“We had guests who arrived on Friday, and to avoid any inconvenience we supplied them with water thinking it would be fixed the next day, this was unfortunately not the case.”
According to Ms Howe-Watson, two sets of guests who arrived on Saturday and checked out the Monday had no water the entire time they were there and had to go down to the beach to get water.
“One of the families from England that were staying for three weeks had two little boys and a baby. Fortunately, they had family in the area, but they had to venture out in the cold to bath their kids.”
Another resident, Deborah April, had a family of six from the UK staying at her house from August 6 to August 11. The water was disconnected four days prior to them leaving.
“They left our shores and returned home without a decent bath or breakfast,” Ms April said.
Resident Raoul Esnouf, said the City had shown no sense of urgency in resolving the problem.
“On Monday morning, the guys pitched up and were sitting in their truck drinking coffee. When we approached them and asked what was happening, they said they didn’t know what number the leak was at. Instead of asking somebody.”
He said he had then directed them to where the leak was. According to him, it was a big one as the water had been close to entering a resident’s house.
“After inspecting the problem, we were told that spare parts were needed, and we were promised it would be fixed on the day. Later in the afternoon, we were told they had not got the spare parts and would have to look for it elsewhere.”
According to Mr Esnouf, the workers eventually arrived around 10pm on Monday, cut the pipe, and said they would return the next day.
“That was unacceptable, and we insisted that they fix the problem immediately. Thanks to the help of resident Darryl Williams who assisted the council workers, the problem was fixed at around 10.30pm,” he said.
Ward councillor Aimee Kuhl said the cottages were “not outright privately owned” but still fell under the City’s recreation and parks department and so attending to water problems did not fall solely under the jurisdiction of the water and sanitation department as would be the case with regular residential properties.
“When the fault was logged last week, the responsible department, recreation and parks, did not have the relevant parts or expertise to fix the issue. They relied on their colleagues from water and sanitation to assess the situation and to procure the relevant parts,” she said.
“It so happened that the parts needed also weren’t available at the closest depot of water and sanitation and needed to be sourced from another depot across the City. This back and forth resulted in the residents at the cottages being without water for a prolonged period of time.”
She said both departments had acknowledged that the problem should have been dealt with more efficiently and they had agreed to work on a protocol to follow in future.
Despite the inconvenience, the Seaside Cottage residents had maintained a strong sense of community spirit with some opening their water tanks to those who had no water, said resident Isabel Von Witt.
“It was heartening to see the community pulling together to help one another – especially those who made the effort to keep the conversation going with the relevant authorities until our voices were heard,” she said.