Five days after the Table View pump station failed, leaving five families affected by the mass of sewage water, four of whom had to be evacuated, the City of Cape Town confirmed that it was finally repaired and operational again.
Mayco member for Water and Sanitation, Zahid Badroodien, on Tuesday said they determined the first pump’s bearing was worn out.
Residents of Table View had to be evacuated from their homes on Monday night via rubber duck boats by the City’s Fire and Rescue and found refuge at the homes of relatives.
The residents were also issued with third-party claim forms and an ambulance team was on standy-by.
It followed the failure of two pumps at the Table View pump station that started on April 4 which damaged homes and properties.
“After tireless efforts, the City’s Water and Sanitation Directorate confirmed this morning (8 April) that the Table View east pump station is operational again. Teams are busy with cleaning the affected properties. The City continues to monitor the operations at the pump station closely,” said Badroodien.
“The cause of the malfunction of the first pump was found to be a worn centre bearing causing a drive shaft to loosen.
“The maintenance team was able to access the first pump on April 7, when the drywell level dropped, and the pump has been restored.
"It assisted in reducing the levels in the pump station, allowing the maintenance team to access the second pump later, repairing it and reinstating it to restore the pump station.
“They then monitored the performance of the pumps and the operation of the pump station for quite some time before departing in the early hours of this morning.
“A total of five properties were affected, but four properties (seven people) were evacuated from their homes yesterday (7 April). There have been no more evacuations today (8 April)."
Ward councillor, Sue van der Linde, told the Cape Argus that affected families who were evacuated were back inside their homes and that vacuum trucks continued to be on site.
Resident, Philippe Roche, said the community was fed-up with the amount of failures that had been experienced at the pump station.
“On Friday (April 4), after the City issued a well shared communique, it seems no tangible actions were being taken to mitigate and deal with what was coming, what was known, what was preventable,” said Roche.
“The east station was down and it is well known sewage quantities have drastically increased in Table View. The amount of failure and spills over the last few years proves this.
"Why was there no extreme plan put in place then already?
“Why wait for streets to be flooded? Why only two pumping trucks, why only one small mobile pump where two industrial ones inside were not enough and failed?
"This was preventable for sure. It feels like the weekend had something to do with the lack of concrete extreme action.”
Cape Argus