By Liesl Frankson

Butterworth and surrounding areas in the Eastern Cape have been plagued by recent water interruptions as a result of a worn bearings pump, the Amathole District Municipality said.

The municipality says its mechanical and electrical team is looking into this latest issue which is at pump station No.4 at Reservoir Hill in Butterworth. Earlier this year Butterworth and the surrounding communities were without water as result of a blown-out Eskom transformer which was supplying electricity to the water pumps.

The Eastern Cape’s water crisis has appeared in the news as far back as 2010. Some of the reasons for the province’s water challenges range from aging infrastructure to poor management and bad planning. In 2010 Dacre Haddon, MPL for the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Eastern Cape pointed out that only two out of the 45 municipalities in the Eastern Cape had the necessary qualified personnel to ensure the effective management of water.

In an article on the DA’s provincial website Haddon explained that in response to a parliamentary question, posed by himself, to the MEC for Local government regarding water planning in the province, it emerged that only two municipalities had qualified water engineers.

At the time, Haddon revealed that the Amathole District Municipality had three engineers, one of which was on a five year contract with a year of service still required by the individual. The Nelson Mandel Metro only had two qualified Water Engineers and the remaining few engineers in the province were either technologists or technicians doing such work.

The Makana Municipality in particular has endured extensive media coverage due to the on-going water supply challenges with the blame placed squarely on old infrastructure.

The issue was thrust into the media further when Rhodes University management took to the streets protesting against the water shortages. In an effort to address the water supply challenges the Amatola Water signed a contract with the municipality, last year, to manage its bulk water supplies for the next five years.

The five-year contract, effective from 03 October 2013 until 2018 enables Amatola Water to supply bulk potable water to Makana Municipality, take over the running of the municipality’s four water treatment plants and the management of staff at these works, as well as be responsible for the maintenance and operations at the four plants – including overseeing planned maintenance and pipeline breakages on the system.

This year the Amathole District Municipality has advertised numerous tenders to address some of its water supply challenges. Some of the municipality’s prospective projects include the Xhora water supply scheme and the renovation of the Morgan Bay Water Works.