Water supply challenges are now a thing of the past for the community of Sheepmoor in the Msukaligwa Local Municipality with the completion and handover of the Sheepmoor Bulk Water Supply Scheme project on 19 October 2021.
The project will benefit the 526 households in the area and will also cater for increases in the community and future developments.
The handover was graced by Deputy Minister Mahlobo, Gert Sibande District Executive Mayor, Cllr Chirwa and Msukaligwa Executive Mayor, Cllr Mkhaliphi.
The R22 million bulk project funded by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) by R15 million and co-funded by the Gert Sibande District Municipality by R5 million and Msukaligwa Local Municipality by R2 million, involved the installation of a Bulk Water supply pipeline to extract raw water from the Usuthu River Pipeline (URPL) to Sheepmoor to meet the required demand until year 2038. The project also included the upgrading and refurbishing of the existing Water Storage Facility, the Pump House and the construction of a new Package Water Treatment Plant.
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The project was phased out into two phases where, Phase 1 was implemented through a co-funding from Gert Sibande District Municipality with the scope of work which contained the construction of a new 1 Ml/day Package Water Treatment Plant. Phase 2 scope of work contains the construction of a 7.1km pipeline from the Usuthu Vaal Pipeline (UVPL) to the Sheepmoor community, refurbishment of the existing 2Ml steel reservoir and 85Kl elevated tank, the refurbishment/upgrading of the existing booster pump station and pipework to connect to existing reservoirs.
During the inspection of the plant, Deputy Minister Mahlobo advised the municipality to look at a back-up power system to ensure that the community still receives water even during electricity challenges. He further encouraged the municipality to buy spare parts of the critical elements of the plant to ensure that it does not take long to fix the plant when there are breakdowns.
In his handover address, the Executive Mayor of Gert Sibande District, Cllr Chirwa emphasized that the Deputy Minister stated that the work is not over but this is the beginning and the next phase is to build a waste water treatment plant so that the community can have waterborne flushing toilets as they now have reliable water supply. Cllr Chirwa pleaded with the community to use the water wisely and sparingly as South Africa is water scarce country.
