This statement serves to clarify the situation around operational disruptions affecting supply to
the City of Polokwane that have been experienced by Lepelle Northern Water (LNW) since last
Wednesday.
Three major disruptions of Ebenezer Scheme operations occurred on Wednesday, Friday and
yesterday, which adversely affected water supply to Polokwane.
The one that occurred on Tuesday is attributed to an emergency shutdown for repairs to be
conducted to the main pipeline due to a leak at Boyne. This lasted 7 and a half hours since
stopping the plant at 07:00 that day.
Friday’s disruption of operations at Ebenezer Scheme is attributed to a 6-hour power outage
during which the plant was out of operation. The power came back on again at around 15:30.
Since, the plant has been running without disruption.
A similar situation was experienced yesterday during an extended power outage, causing
operations to resume last night.
Simultaneously continuous power dips on the side of Olifantspoort Plant that cause machinery
to trip are being experienced almost daily. When this occurs, it can take up to 2 hours to get
operations at the plant up and running again. The last occurrence was early yesterday. This
situation greatly impacts on operations.
LNW humbly apologises for any inconvenience caused due to disruptions in water supply. We
appeal to our consumers to please be patient in instances of disruption when all is being done
to get production up and running without delay.
