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Johannesburg - Following a physical altercation and mass congestion for water at the Newlands Spring in Cape Town, the city has decided to reroute the water to the Newlands swimming pool site down the road.
While Safety, Security and Social Services MMC Alderman JP Smith thanked residents for collecting natural spring water in an effort to improve the city's water security, he announced that the current set up was not working.
"Unfortunately, due to the number of residents wanting to access the site to collect water, there is a great deal of congestion and this is making it more difficult for people trying to access the spring," said Smith in a statement.
"Earlier this week, a physical conflict broke out and a person was arrested by SAPS. The surrounding neighbours and particularly the adjacent old age home are also being adversely affected."
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Smith said he had received a number of complaints from the surrounding community because of the congestion and noise from cars, with people visiting the spring throughout the day and night.
Vehicle congestion
Some of the old age home residents apparently had to move out of their rooms due to the noise.
The city will be rerouting the spring water to the Newlands swimming pool site, 700m down the road. It is located on Main Road and has much more space and parking available.
"This arrangement will also reduce the impact on the old age home. This location is far easier to access and has ample parking, and will allow for easier management, as well as faster and more convenient access for all people collecting water," said Smith.
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Until the water had been rerouted, Smith announced that the spring would be managed 24 hours a day by city law enforcement departments.
Traffic services would manage vehicle congestion and the spring would only be accessible to vehicles between 07:00 and 22:00.
Smith added: "Each person will be requested to only fill containers of up to 25l at a time to ensure that no one person holds up the queue - people are welcome to re-join the queue to fill more containers" in the interest of speeding up queues and allowing everyone access to the spring water.
"We want to be clear that limits are not being set on the amount of water that people collect, we are simply trying to manage the queuing and congestion better and to ensure fair access to all."
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