Who pays if fibre installer cuts a water pipe?

chrisc

chrisc

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Been digging up pavement in street around the corner. When they got to the intersection, they put down this boring machine. Have seen it used across a driveway and it takes about 5 mins

After an hour of machine stopping and starting, the operator revved up the engine and pulled the lever. Within a few seconds, a large geyser of water broke through the tarred surface and shot 5 metres into the air. Operator withdrew the pipe and water started coming out here too. I came inside to phone Council (no operator, only a recording) and by the time I got back, they had attached this trailer to the bakkie and drove off. It is now Saturday at 4.30 pm

Council arrived this morning at 10.00 and turned off water. So water had been shooting out for 17 hours. There is now a large hole and a crane to take out pipes, etc. About 6 council lorries, wooden shoring for the hole

Water inspector called 30 mins ago. There has been no application to dig or trench he says and they are looking for people to blame.
 
ginggs

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chrisc said:
Been digging up pavement in street around the corner. When they got to the intersection, they put down this boring machine.
Click to expand...
I stopped reading here. Yawn!
 
LazyLion

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They even cut my water pipe INSIDE my property when they came to instal the ONT!
Oh the irony!
 
U

upup

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And after six months another operator is coming and break the same pipe again.
I wish there were a standard, or one pipe for all.
 
maumau

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Fibre guys repeatedly struck the water pipes in our area.

Apparently plans they were given are inaccurate.
 
StoneCold

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maumau said:
Apparently plans they were given are inaccurate.
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I believe this is the case 99.9% of the time. I highly doubt any city / town in this country of ours has any updated plans as new developments were made over time.
 
supersunbird

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W
chrisc said:
Been digging up pavement in street around the corner. When they got to the intersection, they put down this boring machine. Have seen it used across a driveway and it takes about 5 mins

After an hour of machine stopping and starting, the operator revved up the engine and pulled the lever. Within a few seconds, a large geyser of water broke through the tarred surface and shot 5 metres into the air. Operator withdrew the pipe and water started coming out here too. I came inside to phone Council (no operator, only a recording) and by the time I got back, they had attached this trailer to the bakkie and drove off. It is now Saturday at 4.30 pm

Council arrived this morning at 10.00 and turned off water. So water had been shooting out for 17 hours. There is now a large hole and a crane to take out pipes, etc. About 6 council lorries, wooden shoring for the hole

Water inspector called 30 mins ago. There has been no application to dig or trench he says and they are looking for people to blame.
Click to expand...

Wait for them to return and then you have the guilty company...
 
isie

isie

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Complicated since when they apply fo r Wayleaves the council goves them a map of pipes in the area and they work around this to try and avoid breaking anything.
unfortunately those maps are outdated and plenty of pipes are where they not supposed to be - so think there is shared responsibility between the contractor and the council
 
pinball wizard

pinball wizard

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supersunbird said:
Well, if they do not catch and get money from the culprit. Not that they'd really know how much water was lost.
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Contractors do not repair service hits. The standard procedure (which is a condition of getting a wayleave) is that the relevant council department is contacted so that they can effect the rep[air. The contractor is then presented with a bill for the repair, which if they ever want a wayleave from that council again, they pay.

Some councils hand out fines at the same time, usually in the tens of thousands of Rand range.

Tshwane has implemented a system where a contractor must lodge a several hundred thousand Rand deposit before the wayleave is issued in order to cover these costs. Ekurhuleni is currently reviewing their wayleave system and is going to go this way as well.
 
pinball wizard

pinball wizard

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chrisc said:
Been digging up pavement in street around the corner. When they got to the intersection, they put down this boring machine. Have seen it used across a driveway and it takes about 5 mins

After an hour of machine stopping and starting, the operator revved up the engine and pulled the lever. Within a few seconds, a large geyser of water broke through the tarred surface and shot 5 metres into the air. Operator withdrew the pipe and water started coming out here too. I came inside to phone Council (no operator, only a recording) and by the time I got back, they had attached this trailer to the bakkie and drove off. It is now Saturday at 4.30 pm

Council arrived this morning at 10.00 and turned off water. So water had been shooting out for 17 hours. There is now a large hole and a crane to take out pipes, etc. About 6 council lorries, wooden shoring for the hole

Water inspector called 30 mins ago. There has been no application to dig or trench he says and they are looking for people to blame.
Click to expand...
Ok, wait, I just re-read this. How do you know this was a fibre contractor? The horizontal drilling machines are not cheap and generally whoever uses one is a recognised contractor and will have a wayleave. The fly-by-night cowboys would have illegally cut the road, especially on a weekend.
 
supersunbird

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pinball wizard said:
Contractors do not repair service hits. The standard procedure (which is a condition of getting a wayleave) is that the relevant council department is contacted so that they can effect the rep[air. The contractor is then presented with a bill for the repair, which if they ever want a wayleave from that council again, they pay.

Some councils hand out fines at the same time, usually in the tens of thousands of Rand range.

Tshwane has implemented a system where a contractor must lodge a several hundred thousand Rand deposit before the wayleave is issued in order to cover these costs. Ekurhuleni is currently reviewing their wayleave system and is going to go this way as well.
Click to expand...

Well, that's good then, also glad I gave you an opportunity to type all that.
 
SauRoNZA

SauRoNZA

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I just don't understand why there isn't a standard depth logic applied to these things.

As in....

Water : 2m deep.

Power : 2.5m deep.

Fiber : 1.5m deep.

It really shouldn't be that hard.
 
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