Kaunda instructs unit to tackle city’s water challenges

Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda Picture: Sibonelo Ngcobo/African News Agency(ANA)

Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda Picture: Sibonelo Ngcobo/African News Agency(ANA)

Published Mar 24, 2021

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DURBAN - ETHEKWINI Municipality mayor Mxolisi Kaunda has tasked the Water and Sanitation Department to deal with water cuts affecting some parts of the city.

Kaunda told an executive committee meeting yesterday that when there was load shedding, thousands of residents across the city were left without drinking water.

Last week, several areas including several sections of uMlazi, Nsimbini, Folweni, Golokodo, parts of Verulam, Amaoti, Redcliffe, parts of Ntuzuma, Besters, KwaMashu N section, Klaarwater, St Wendolins, Savanah Park, Welbedacht West, Demat, Luganda, Mawelewele, and parts of Nagina and Washington Heights were all affected by water outages as a result of load shedding.

Kaunda said he had given the Water and Sanitation unit two months to come up with a plan that would address the water challenges in the city.

Regarding the water cuts due to load shedding, Kaunda said the municipality had resorted to isolating Inanda Dam from load shedding. “Every effort to provide uninterrupted water supply in the city continues. Isolating Inanda Dam reservoir from load shedding is expected to help ensure constant water supply.

“To gain more understanding on the challenges besetting these water reservoirs, the city leadership, accompanied by Umgeni Water top management, conducted an inspection at these facilities. The main objective was to ascertain that the practical measures being implemented to end water shortages do not cause other technical challenges.”

City leaders had also received a progress report on the upgrade of water infrastructure in Verulam, he said. A new pipe would be added into the existing network to increase water supply in the area next week, he said.

Apart from load shedding affecting water supply, the city’s population had increased by 25% in the past five years, which placed further strain on existing infrastructure, he added. “As a practical measure to ensure that all residents have access to clean drinking water, the city will be investing in boreholes and static tanks in 137 areas that receive water through water tankers.”

Kaunda said a meeting was also being scheduled with the Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation to discuss challenges of ageing water infrastructure in the city and to get an update on uMkhomazi Dam.

Kaunda said it was important to ensure there was a continuous supply of water to the city’s residents as “access to drinking water is not a privilege, it is a right that this municipality will continue to ensure … ”

The city warned residents that there would be water outages today due to a planned shutdown to carry out tie-ins into the existing 500mm Aberdare Drive, Phoenix Industrial Park reticulation pipeline. The tie-ins were necessary as sections of the new 500mm steel pipeline along the new BRT route had to be connected to the existing Aberdare Reticulation outlet for the new GO Durban.

Recently, DA councillor Nicole Graham raised concerns about water issues, saying parts of the eThekwini Municipality were again being plunged into a humanitarian crisis, spending days without potable water after another outage.

A combination of load shedding affecting pump stations and repairs being conducted by Umgeni Water at the Durban Heights treatment works had left many communities high and dry, she said. Communities serviced by the uMlazi, Verulam, Pinetown and Inanda networks were affected.

“The real crisis is how poorly this crisis has been planned for and addressed. Questions by DA councillors about the

plans surrounding the Durban Heights upgrade have gone unanswered – what was the plan to supply communities when we knew this was happening?”

She said water tankers were few and far between, and eThekwini Water and Sanitation did not have enough cash to hire more. “The tanker roll-out remains politicised, shambolic and a complete failure. There are seldom maps or plans, tankers get ‘hijacked’ and re-routed in the absence of proper security,” she said.

THE MERCURY

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City of Ethekwini