Water bills likely to go up 15% in Durban, PMB

File picture: Antoine de Ras

File picture: Antoine de Ras

Published Nov 8, 2016

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Durban - Durban and Pietermaritzburg water bills are expected to shoot up by as much as 15% next year to start paying - seven years in advance - for one of the country’s biggest and most expensive new water supply schemes.

Emphasising that no final decisions had been reached yet, Umgeni Water confirmed on Monday that it had met five large municipalities last week to outline proposals to increase tariffs by 15% from July next year.

This was largely to finance the proposed uMkhomazi Water Project, a giant new water supply scheme to transfer water from the uMkhomazi River to Durban via a new tunnel, and treatment works south of Pietermaritzburg.

Apart from having to dig a 32km underground tunnel through large sections of solid rock, the project involves building a new dam larger than the current Midmar Dam.

The Springfield Dam would be built on the uMkhomazi River close to the town of Richmond, with future proposals for a second large dam near Impendle, along with two new hydro-electric turbines to generate electricity.

The Springfield Dam would also flood parts of the existing R617 road from Pietermaritzburg to Underberg, requiring a road deviation to be built.

The uMkhomazi scheme (projected to cost at least R16.5 billion) would require current Umgeni Water tariffs to rise by more than double, if the scheme were not subsidised by national government.

It is understood that this is one of the main reasons why Umgeni Water has proposed spreading out the costs and getting customers to start paying in advance for new water that will become available only from 2024 at the earliest.

Umgeni spokesman Shami Harichunder said on Monday that the water utility had a meeting last week with senior officials from five municipalities (eThekwini, Msunduze, Umgungundlovu, Ugu and Ilembe) to propose a 15% tariff hike from July 2017.

This proposed hike was to include Umgeni’s existing bulk water tariffs, the new drought levy and the capital costs of both the future Springfield Dam and the existing Spring Grove Dam near Rosetta.

Harichunder said the tariff proposal was subject to negotiation and might be finalised only early next year.

However, a Department of Water Affairs feasibility study suggests that the total costs of the uMkhomazi scheme could require current Umgeni Water tariffs to rise by as much as 59%.

The study projects that unless the national government provides a 25% grant to subsidise the massive costs, Umgeni Water’s bulk water tariff would have to be increased by R2.70/kl (2014 prices) or R4.57/kl (2023 prices).

If government provided a 25% grant, the hike could be softened slightly to R2.12/kl (2014 prices) or R3.58/kl (2023 prices).

On average, Umgeni’s current bulk water tariff is R5.34/kl - suggesting that Durban residents and other Umgeni Water customers could end up paying even more in the years ahead than the 15% increase proposed for next year.

Harichunder said that if the uMkhomazi scheme did not go ahead there would not be enough water to supply future needs and this would require further strict water restrictions.

While the eThekwini municipality has yet to comment on the latest 15% tariff hike plan, the uMkhomazi scheme was discussed last year by the city’s human settlements and infrastructure committee, some councillors voicing fears that the costs were “exorbitant”.

Quite apart from the enormous cost implications, building a major new dam on the uMkhomazi could also result in significant environmental implications by blocking the course of the province’s third largest river.

The uMkhomazi is one of the province’s last wild and largely undeveloped rivers and a dam could block fish and eel migrations, damage the ecology of the river downstream and even reduce the volume of sand and sediment reaching Durban beaches - potentially leading to further coastal erosion.

Some of these environmental impacts are due to be addressed in a final environmental impact assessment due to be published on a government website this morning.

It is understood, however, that consultants engaged would recommend that the project’s environmental impacts were “acceptable”, subject to certain conditions being satisfied.

The Mercury

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