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A Somerset West suburb's water troubles may be over, but only temporarily, according to the responsible municipal official, Charles Moller. Helderberg Estate resident Ronnie Immelman and a number of his neighbours told DistrictMail earlier this month they had been left without water for days and on a number of occasions, without prior warning from the municipality.

When they tried to contact the municipality, phones were either not answered or they were sent from pillar to post.

To add insult to injury, when the City of Cape Town attempted to respond to questions sent by DistrictMail, sent via municipal spokesperson Charles Cooper, officials sent it to an incorrect e-mail address, resulting in the responses not arriving in time to meet the newspaper's deadline.

Mr Moller, who heads up the Water Services department looking after reticulation in the Helderberg, says in an e-mail the reticulation system that supplies water to Helderberg Estate is a combination of mechanical and electrical equipment.

'Fails from time to time'
"It fails from time to time, particularly if it is old and perhaps subjected to corrosion."

He denies allegations made by residents that the problem had persisted over a number of months, adding that in the most recent case, water supply was returned when it was found a particular valve "was open when it was supposed to be shut".

However, Mr Moller added that the equipment would take "a while to sort out, to get it to a reasonable 'fail-safe' state".

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