Hero dirt bikers spot major NMB water leak, ‘saving Despatch from crisis’

As with many times before, a Despatch businessman took his sons on Tuesday for a dirt-bike ride on the outskirts of town.

Suddenly, their normally dusty path turned into a muddy mess, and the further they climbed up the hill towards Motherwell, the worse it got.

The dirt road was in fact a municipal servitude line where crucial overhead electrical cables and underground water infrastructure run to provide services to parts of Nelson Mandela Bay.

And on Tuesday afternoon, halfway up the servitude that runs from Despatch to Motherwell through Perseverance, they came across a gushing fountain of clean drinking water.

“When we came across the first muddy puddles, I knew something was not right. The further we went, the worse it got, and our bikes started sinking away in the sludge. We could hear the water gushing long before we could see it, and when we found the actual leak, I was stunned.”

The businessman asked not to be named to protect his privacy.

Read more: Day 13 of Despatch water crisis culminates in brawls, legal threats and pleas for aid

A few days before, municipal contractors repaired a small leak on a 450mm water line that feeds parts of Perseverance, Despatch and Kariega. The trench was not filled up again, and the stretch of pipe suffered a major burst.

“I have experience in the construction industry, and I could tell this did not happen a few minutes before we got there. This water had been pouring out of that line for hours, maybe even a day or two,” said the businessman.

Because he normally reports any water leaks he comes across, he had the number of their local ward councillor, Frans Swanepoel, on speed dial, allowing him to report the leak immediately.

He sent videos, locations and even rode further up the hill along the servitude, so that Swanepoel could determine that the leak was from the 450mm mains running between the Motherwell and Chelsea reservoirs.

“These guys may not realise it, but they are this town’s biggest heroes right now. We have been struggling with one water challenge after the other, and these bikers single-handedly saved Despatch from a massive crisis,” Swanepoel said.

Thanks to their quick thinking, the councillor could determine exactly where along the line the leak was, notify contractors and direct them to the site, where they started working on the leak a few hours later.

“The contractors repaired a much smaller leak at that exact spot very recently, but it seems after mending the pipe, they never filled the trench. That explains the massive hole you can see in the pictures and video where the water is spilling out.”

Swanepoel said that besides taps drying up in certain suburbs in Despatch, such as Azalea Park, the water from that line also ran to the industrial parts of Perseverance and served one of the biggest water users and employers in the area, the SAB Ibhayi brewery.

“If these guys lose water, they lose production and millions of rands. Luckily, water was diverted from other lines to keep them running, but that would only be a temporary fix.”

An engineering contractor who specialises in water infrastructure and has worked in Nelson Mandela Bay explained that many variables came into play with such a leak, and it would be difficult to determine its magnitude without first-hand information.

However, taking into account the size of the pipeline, the normal pressure needed for it to run optimally, the severity of the break in the pipe, and what could be seen from the video taken at the leak, he said a conservative estimate was that a minimum of a million litres of water an hour ran out of that pipe.

“It could be much more than that, but it is unlikely to be less. We cannot say with certainty how long that leak was running before it was reported, so the total volume lost will remain a mystery. Without a doubt, it is a staggering amount of clean water that went to waste,” the engineer said.

This was just the latest in a series of major water challenges in and around Despatch in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, parts of town were left without water for more than two weeks, resulting in fist fights at water tankers and childcare facilities unable to provide basic services.

In Parliament earlier this month, the minister of water and sanitation responded to questions by ActionSA MP Malebo Kobe on which metros in South Africa recorded the worst losses from water leaks.

The minister’s response, based on figures dating back to June 2023 (quoted as the latest available figures), showed that Nelson Mandela Bay was the third worst, losing 31.4% of its water to leaks.

The City of eThekwini and Mangaung topped the log with 45.1% and 36.3% respectively.

Official communication from the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality intimated that the latest leak in Despatch could have been caused by vandalism on the exposed pipeline.

Initial statements on Tuesday, to inform residents of water disruptions, said the Motherwell-Chelsea bulk pipeline “sustained significant damage due to vandalism”.

Municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya later confirmed that repairs were completed by Thursday morning.

“We urge residents to play an active role in safeguarding public infrastructure. Vandalism not only disrupts critical service delivery, but in cases such as this complex incident, it poses serious danger to the individuals involved,” Soyaya said. DM