Durban - The Hazelmere Dam, which supplies water to tens of thousands of people north of Durban, could run out of water by March - if the heavens do not open.
New figures show that the dam has dropped to a “critically low level” of 44 percent as the El Nino weather system takes hold.
The head of the eThekwini Municipality’s water and sanitation department, Ednick Msweli, said an appeal to residents to reduce consumption had failed.
The affected areas are Verulam, Grange, Redcliffe, Everest Heights, Waterloo, Trenance Park, oThongathi, Westbrook, La Mercy, Sea Tides, Hambanati, Emona, Burbreeze and eMdloti.
Msweli said uMngeni Water, which supplied bulk water to the municipality, had projected that at current usage and rainfall, the dam would run dry by the fourth week of September.
Msweli, presenting a report to the municipality’s executive committee yesterday, said of the 44 percent level, 15 percent was what they called “bad storage”.
“It’s muck at the bottom of the dam and you cannot use that. So if you take away that from 44 percent that leaves you with less than 30 percent storage in the dam.”
And while the uMngeni water system that supplied water to residents in Durban, Pietermaritzburg, uMgungundlovu and north of Ugu District Municipality, remained “healthy”, the situation could change as there may be a need to divert water further north if the Hazelmere Dam runs dry.
Msweli said his department had recently embarked on water “load-shedding” to comply with uMngeni Water’s request to reduce consumption by 20 percent. To ease the load from the Hazelmere system, water was diverted to northern residents from the uMngeni system.
Deputy mayor Nomvuso Shabalala said the water department needed to hand out leaflets to residents in the affected areas to urge them to comply.
Councillor Fawzia Peer said officials needed to clamp down on water leaks.
uMngeni Water’s corporate stakeholder manager, Shami Harichunder, said the uMngeni system could also drop if good rainfall did not occur in the coming months.
“The restrictions are to be taken to... Level 3 - in some areas where households and other users will be asked to make water savings of 30 percent,” Harichunder said. “These households are in iLembe, Umhlali and Ballito. The savings are required now to ensure there is sufficient water when schools close and holidaymakers arrive.”
Daily News