Hundreds of litres of water went to waste this morning, Wednesday, 4 September, after contracted workers hit a water pipe outside a complex in Constantia Kloof.
The workers, contracted by The Summit Body Corporate on Fairview Drive, were chopping down a tree outside the complex when they accidentally hacked the pipe, resulting in drinking water gushing uncontrollably into the streets.
The tree, according to Ward 89 councillor, Amelia Bester, belonged to the Council, meaning it was cut illegally. Amelia recently warned against the illegal felling of City-owned trees.
“The value of mature trees could be as much as R50 000 per tree,” she said. “If and when a City-owned tree is removed privately, the [perpetrator] could be fined the value attributed to that tree,” she warned.
The water flooded along Fairview Drive, into Wilhelmina Avenue and Christiaan De Wet Road.
The water ran for almost an hour before the arrival of Johannesburg Water, who closed the water supply. When the personnel investigated, they found an axe in a pool of water where the pipe was damaged.
A member of the complex’s body corporate declined to comment at the scene.
This is a developing story.
