Water shortage‚ fires threaten National Arts Festival

27 June 2016 - 14:21 By Adrienne Carlisle And David Macgregor

Disaster struck in Grahamstown at the weekend‚ just days before the start of the National Arts Festival‚ when one of its major pumping stations flooded‚ damaging pumps and leaving huge swathes of the city without water. To make matters worse‚ a hefty berg wind has fanned fires burning ferociously south of Grahamstown.Most of Grahamstown East‚ the CBD and parts of Rhodes University were left without water‚ while water pressure in other parts of the city was woefully low.Makana Municipality‚ assisted by Amatola Water and other municipalities‚ moved swiftly to try and resolve the water catastrophe‚ which could prove a major blow to the festival.Senior Makana officials‚ including acting municipal manager Riana Meiring‚ rushed to the James Kleynhans water treatment works and pump station at Glen Melville Dam east of Grahamstown on Sunday after an employee reported he had found the pump station completely flooded.By midmorning on Monday‚ the municipality reported that the failure of a gland follower (seal) in the second pump on the non-drive end had caused the flooding.Meiring said the municipality was treating the situation as a disaster.By Monday morning‚ the water had been pumped out of the pump station and the blown motors from the three pumps were removed.Municipal spokeswoman Yoliswa Ramokola said the pump in position one had been moved to position three and coupled to a new motor.She said a fresh team from Amatola Water was on its way to begin alignment. She said two of the three damaged high-lift motors had been transported to East London.“The truck will be coming back with a fresh driver to take the third motor‚ service water pump set‚ and the filter washing pump sets (to East London).”She predicted that if the pressure testing of cables was successful and the pump alignment completed then one of the three pumps could begin work by the end of today.In the meantime‚ water tankers will be delivering water to all affected areas. The municipality is also conducting an investigation into the disaster and indicated it would deal appropriately with any officials found to be responsible.Makana fire chief Willem Welkom said the blaze burning fiercely south of Grahamstown had jumped the N2 overnight and was heading in the direction of Southwell.He said the fire services had not been affected by the city's water woes as they were drawing water from areas not affected by the pump station outage.“We have teams on the scene of the fires and are monitoring the situation. We have assistance from the army and the Sarah Baartman District Municipality is also sending further assistance.”He said no properties had yet been affected.The SA Weather Service has predicted dry berg winds followed by a heavy south-westerly.“There are high FDI (Fire Danger Index) values forecast for the area.”National Arts Festival CEO Tony Lankester said he was meeting with senior Makana municipal officials and would comment later. TMG Digital/Daily Dispatch..

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