Cape Town's water crisis: Hout Bay residents frustrated by delayed repairs
Fresh clean water gushing from a pipe, in Hout Bay.
Image: Supplied
It took the City of Cape Town more than a week to fix an underground leak, which residents on Chapmans Peak Drive, in Hout Bay, have dubbed the "Niagra Falls of ineptitude"- in terms of the council's slow reaction.
A building trustee of a luxury apartment complex, One Chapmans Peak Drive, located at the northern entrance of the world-famous Chapman’s Peak Drive in Hout Bay, Deborah Curtis-Setchell, alerted the municipality on December 30 about water gushing from under the road on Chapmans Peak Drive.
The leak was only fixed yesterday, Wednesday, January 7.
"It was running through a large drainpipe onto and around its perimeter, and into the sea," she said.
Rain water tanks metres, from an underground pipe leak, on Chapmans Peak Drive, in Hout Bay.
Image: Supplied
Ms Curtis-Setchell said she and residents were horrified at the length of time it took to get the pipe fixed and that "gallons of clean water were going to waste daily".
"With our own rainwater tanks within a short distance from where this water emerged, it was frustrating not to be able to at least salvage some of this precious commodity," she said.
She said that there were entire communities without water and that watching this "torrent literally pour into salt water was frustrating to say the least".
Ms Curtis-Setchell said: "A New Year's resolution should be to prioritise and avoid such unnecessary and extortionate waste in the future, regardless of what time of the year it occurs," she said.
Fresh clean water flowing away.
Image: Supplied
In the past, it had been a trickle, but in the last days of 2025, the water had been freely flowing into the sea.
Being environmentally conscious, Ms Curtis-Setchell had alerted the apartment block's building manager to the running water.
She also provided the Sentinel News with a reference number alerting the City of Cape Town to the leak.
Water flowing towards the sea.
Image: Supplied
Mayoral committee member for water and sanitation Dr Zahid Badroodien, said that the municipality had only been alerted to the leak by Sentinel News's media enquiry on Monday, January 5.
"Investigations revealed that the source of the water was an underground leak on the 150mm diameter water pipeline, which has since been attended to and repaired. The flow of water has stopped completely," he said.
Residents are reminded that the quickest way to have an issue attended to is by reporting it directly to the City of Cape Town via dedicated service request channels: WhatsApp 060 018 1505; online www.capetown.gov.za/servicerequests; email, water@capetown.gov.za; SMS 31373 (maximum 160 characters, standard rates apply); Call 086 010 3089 or visit a City walk-in centre (see www.capetown.gov.za/facilities to find the one closest to you).