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MEDIA STATEMENT: Update on Ebb and Flow Water failure

 

The George Municipal 35 000 litre water tanker is stationed at the Superette in Touwsranten and is being used to refill the five water tankers currently servicing Hoekwil and Touwsranten.

 

The Civil Engineering Department has been battling a pipeburst which started on Wednesday 14th April when the bulk watermains burst near the Wilderness Water Treatment Works. The repairs have either burst elsewhere  along the pipeline or couplings failed due to the high pressure required to force the water uphill through the system.

The current repair site is located at Ebb and Flow on the bridge. The team are working with very old steel pipelines which are no longer manufactured or kept in stock. The repair team has attempted to modify couplings and manufacture gaskets to facilitate the repair, but due to the variable high pressures and unstable ground conditions, the HDPE pipes are not holding with the couplings repeatedly failing.

A permanent solution to the repairs entails the manufacture and assembly of the full length of the failed sections in steel. The work entails the cutting and assembling of precise lengths of steel piping, including a number of specific sized bends and modified or new manufactured couplings. The manufacturing will be completed as quickly as is possible and is estimated at half a day. Following manufacture the new steel piping will need to be installed and tested before the system can become fully operational again.

 

The site of the pipeline failure at Ebb and Flow Bridge has been secured in preparation for the installation of the new manufactured steel pipes tomorrow.

 

 

George Municipality apologizes for the inconvenience and continues with the operation of water tankers to alleviate the water outage.
Water tankers will remain in Touwsranten and Hoekwil until 21h00 tonight and return to site Monday morning by 06h00.

Currently the George Municipal 35 000 litre water tanker has been placed at the Touwsranten Superette  and which will be used to refill the five water tankers currently in operation in both areas.

The water tankers are  stationed at
1. Mountain View Street / Begonia Street;
2. Adonis Street;
3. Jasper Street;
4. Thyz Jacobz Retirement Village (Church Street, Hoekwil) ;
5.  Denneboom Street (roaming).

A smaller civils vehicle will be moving through the streets to ascertain where the water tankers must be moved to as the need arises.
Queries must please be directed to our after -hours number 044 801 6300.

 

REPAIR UPDATE: GENEVAFONTEIN REPAIRS COMPLETED

The area remains a construction site and residents are urged to please stay well clear.

George Municipality confirms that repairs to the 600mm diameter raw water pipeline and the 800mm diameter Eastern water pipeline concluded just after 18h30 on Monday, 15 March 2021. Both pipelines were backfilled with sand to ensure they are bedded, i.e. secure in a place, and safe to open valves for water supply to both the Water Treatment Works and residential areas to resume.

The Eastern Water pipeline (drinking water) is currently supplying at full capacity as of 22h00 last night, with most of the affected areas being supplied of drinking water, with the exception of the Blue Mountain Development (BMD). The raw water line will be recommissioned today .

Teams are currently investigating the cause of the disruption to BMD and we trust this will be resolved as soon as is possible. A water tanker has been sent to the area for the use of the residents. All other water trucks have been withdrawn..

George Municipality urgently requests that residents stay well clear of the repair site which is still regarded as a construction site. The heavy rainfall of the past few days together with the side walls being unstable pose a danger and only experienced personnel are allowed within the vicinity.

The clearing of the site and reinstatement of the 450mm diameter Stormwater Pipeline and the roadway will start today, Tuesday, 16 March 2021. Heriot Road between Stander and Spreeu Streets remains closed to vehicles and pedestrians. Traffic control remains in place. The residents of the houses in the repair zone must please continue to proceed with extreme caution and only if alternative access is not possible.

We thank all residents for their patience and goodwill during this unforeseen challenge.

Joint project on Illegal Dumping Awareness with George Municipality and Garden Route District Municipality

Link to video on illegal dumping  GRDM https://youtu.be/NWlkRB9cGJw

What is illegal dumping?
Illegal dumping is an ything you throw away in a place where it does not belong.
· If you know who is dumping illegally, report them to 044 801 6350 or sprins@george.gov.za or 044 801 6300 (a/h).
· Information that will help the case for a warning or fine: car description and/or registration number, address of alleged perpetrator, type of waste and address of where it was dumped. A cellphone photo of dumping in action will help, but is not essential.
· Report dumped waste for collection to 044 802 2900 or 044 801 6300 (a/h).

 

ILLEGAL DUMPING IS EVERYBODY’S PROBLEM
If you throw your junk just anywhere, it will eventually become your problem some way or another. It can make you sick or kill you.

George Library Services Diabetes Awareness Month

In South Africa, it is estimated that 3.85 million South Africans suffer from diabetes, with many remaining undiagnosed.

Type 2 diabetes can be treated when diagnosed early. Diabetes is a silent disease. You may not know you have it or think it’s not serious. But in the background, it’s causing damage to your blood vessels, and that can lead to a heart attack, stroke, renal failure, blindness – you could even lose a limb.

James De Waal, Senior Librarian Branch Libraries discusses the topic of Diabetes with Mrs Steenkamp, Dietician at the Diabetes Centre of Excellence, George.

https://youtu.be/fSKFch_98PU

Garden Route Dam raising of spillway and dam wall wins national award

George Municipality congratulated Zutari Engineering Consultants, formerly known as Aurecon, for winning the Technical Excellence category at the South African Institute of Civil Engineering (SAICE) Awards last night for its work on the raising of the spillway and dam wall of the Garden Route Dam outside George.

George Municipality Director Civil Engineering Services Regenald Wesso said the Garden Route Dam was the main source of potable water for the city and its capacity had become a concern as the municipal area continued to grow exponentially. “Aurecon devised a novel duckbill-shaped spillway that allowed for the dam’s existing storage capacity to be increased by 25% while increasing the dam’s discharge capacity and thus improving the dam’s safety.

“We are proud to be associated with such an excellent team, which not only delivered an outstanding product but did so on time and within budget,” said Mr Wesso.

George Municipality Portfolio Councillor Civil Engineering Services Jacqulique von Brandis said the raised spillway and dam wall project proved that practical and cost-effective solutions to infrastructure development were possible without compromising on quality and effectivity. “Congratulations to Zutari (Aurecon) – for George this is much more than an award-winner, it is an extension of one of the city’s most important resources: water,” said Ms Von Brandis.

The Garden Route Dam spillway and wall project was completed in January 2020 and increased the dam storage capacity by 25% from 10 million cubic metres to an estimated new capacity of 12,5 milion cubic metres.

Good rainfall over the past few months have filled the dam to its old capacity in early October (2020) and is currently at an estimated 85% of the new capacity. The process of calibrating the dam’s new capacity is underway. It is unknown how quickly the additional dam capacity will fill up, especially taking into consideration that the ‘new’ top edge of the dam is wider and the incline flatter than before.

Criteria for the Technical Excellence category of the SAICE Awards:
• Portray the art and science of civil engineering to the general public
• Indicate how the profession finds answers to challenging demands
• Display unique or unusual features
• Demonstrate functional efficiency, economic contribution and service of mankind
• Demonstrate some notable advance in the solution of engineering problems
• Show particular aesthetic appeal
• Display engineering ingenuity in analysis or design and/or in construction technique
• Had successful handling of impacts on the environment
• Be well managed, finishing on time and within budget

Project details:
The previous Garden Route spillway was 25m wide, which was extended to 80m by curving the spillway in the upstream direction. The new spillway consists of a reinforced concrete cantilever structure, which is unusual for hydraulic structures of this type, as these are normally self-stable by their mass. To enhance the stability, the structure is provided with rockfill on the upstream side of the wall footing, in addition to rock anchors.

Although the full supply level (FSL) of the dam was raised by 2.5 m, due to the local terrain the tallest portion of the new spillway wall is 4.9 m tall. A total of 1,780 m3 of concrete was used (750 m3 mass concrete, 300 m3 for the walls, 390 m3 for the wall footing, and 340 m3 for the channel).

The main dam wall was also raised by 1.76m to prevent overtopping by placing earth fill on top of the existing embankment. Selected material was placed as follows: general fill (12,500 m3), rip-rap (2,500 m3), filter sand (750 m3), and topsoil (2,050 m3).

Caption
The Garden Route Dam spillway and wall photographed upon completion in January 2020.