Ormonde resident Coleen Ramlah has been struggling with a leaking drain in front of her home for almost nine months.

She has made countless complaints to Joburg Water (JW), which did three inspections to find the leak but no real work to determine the cause.

According to Ramlah, inspectors would come on odd occasions and simply examine the drain, mark where the leak might be coming from, and leave it at that.

“It’s a question I’ve been following up on since April. They have tried to give me a new log number on each occasion, but I kept referring to the initial number as it remains unresolved. Meanwhile, hundreds, if not thousands, of liters of water have been wasted daily. As a concerned citizen, this is unacceptable and disappointing, especially since I am doing my part to conserve water in our water-scarce country,” said Ramlah.

An excerpt from an email sent by Ramlah to JW did not elicit a response or action from the utility.

“This call was logged on April 24th. It is now nine months later. It is still not resolved. JW has been out to evaluate the problem at this drain several times. Sometimes it is different assessors, and other times it is the same assessor who comes to assess a problem that has already been assessed and assessed several times before.

“We seem stuck and can’t get past the assessment stage. What we need is a plumber to come out and fix the problem. SA is a water-scarce country. The Vaal Dam is only 34% full, and the Department of Water and Sanitation is implementing up to level 3 water restrictions Don’t you think JW could fix this problem immediately?”

The Southern Courier have yet to receive a comment from JW on the matter.