Three people have been arrested and three trucks impounded after being found collecting water from a fire hydrant in Midrand.
Officials said water had for weeks been siphoned for a construction project run by a major company.
“Since the development started‚ they have been fetching water from here. Road construction around here and the housing development has been done through this fire hydrant‚” said city official Lucky Sindane.
“We dealt with them last year and I still have proof of pictures from last year. It never stops. We disconnect‚ they reconnect … The City of Johannesburg has not received a cent for water used during construction.”
Sindane is the head of communications of the Group Forensic and Investigation Service in the City of Johannesburg.
On Thursday afternoon‚ TimesLIVE visited the scene of the leafy suburb just next to the Mall of Africa and the three trucks carrying the water were parked next to the hydrant. One of the truck drivers said it was his second trip to the hydrant on the day.
When TimesLIVE checked the data sheet that one of the truckers had‚ his truck reflected that he had filled 14‚000 litres on the spot.
The other two drivers said they made about four trips a day to the same hydrant in order to get water to construction sites.
Sindane said construction companies were supposed to have a stand registered with the city and apply for a meter to which they could connect for water supplies to be billed.
The arrests took place on Thursday night.
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