The City of Johannesburg has warned residents that they require the municipality’s permission to drill boreholes after the Gautrain was disrupted due to water and soil seeping into one of its tunnels.
On Saturday, the Gautrain was forced to provide a bus replacement service between Park and Rosebank stations after an investigation established that there was illegal drilling activity on a private property located above the tunnel.
According to the service, the activity was not approved per the requirements of the Gauteng Transport Infrastructure Act.
”This illegal activity, therefore, caused the ingress of water and soil into the tunnel, which impacts our ability to operate the system between these two stations,” Gautrain officials explained.
In its warning on Tuesday, the City of Joburg also cautioned residents against making uninformed decisions which can be very costly, and avoid being exploited by unscrupulous companies in the quest to secure a constant water supply.
Despite the recent persistent rainfall around Gauteng, municipalities in the province have been battling water shortages, which have lasted more than three weeks in some areas.
According to the City of Joburg, boreholes can only be used for specific purposes as defined by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) such as domestic and commercial use as well as for monitoring purposes such as in filling stations.
The municipality stated that it condones the use of boreholes for alternative (non-potable) uses, such as flushing toilets and irrigation.
In terms of the law, the DWS and a municipality may impose restrictions on the drilling and use of boreholes in certain areas to protect the environment and preserve water resources.
”It must, however, be noted that the city does not consider or approve borehole applications in areas that are dolomitic as enlisted in the City of Joburg’s Land Use Scheme (LUS) of 2018,” the municipality said.
Applying to drill a borehole also requires comments from the municipality’s engineering departments and environmental infrastructure service department to ascertain that the proposed borehole will not have any detrimental impact on the existing infrastructure.
A license to use water from a borehole, depending on the amount of water abstracted, is required but for reasonable domestic use, it may not be necessary.
The Gautrain has promised that the bus replacement service will be increased to accommodate additional passengers as necessary to mitigate the inconvenience to passengers.
“We urge all stakeholders to follow due process when any land use changes or construction activities are planned in the vicinity of transport infrastructure in Gauteng so that such occurrences are prevented in the future,” Gautrain management added.