Durban – The South African Local Government Association (Salga) in KwaZulu-Natal is concerned about the impact of load shedding on other municipal services such as water and sanitation.
Salga provincial chairperson Thamsanqa Ntuli said the implementation of Eskom’s Stage 6 blackouts has devastating effects on households, communities, and businesses but also on economic growth.
Ntuli said load shedding by the power utility places local government in a very unfavourable position, as other services rendered to communities are impacted.
He said water and electricity are intrinsically linked, where one cannot be supplied without the other.
“In South Africa 85% of the country’s electricity is supplied by coal power stations and water supply, especially in our province of KwaZulu Natal, which necessitates high-lift pumping systems over great distances. Noting the geographical landscape of our province, where it has very high and low-lying areas.”
Salga explains how an interruption in electricity supply impacts water supply:
∎ Electricity is used in the water sector for pumping, treatment of raw water, distribution of potable water, collection and treatment of wastewater and water discharge.
∎ At reservoirs, some pumps push water into towers, which then provides enough pressure to feed the water-supply network to especially high-lying areas.
∎ The pipelines in the network deliver this water to the taps to homes, hospitals, schools, and businesses. Also, pumps require electricity to work.
Ntuli said the electricity supply by Eskom was considered safe and risk of electricity supply failure did not play a significant role in the design and operations of water supply and distribution systems, until recently.
However, he said the high prolonged electricity supply disruptions are proving to be a challenge for the water-supply sector, particularly municipalities.
“Load shedding-related electricity disruptions has severe consequences for the continuous treatment and supply of water services. The consequences of electricity outages for potable water are so severe that in extreme cases disrupting water supply completely, and compromising water quality.”
Ntuli said Eskom’s inefficiencies are plunging municipalities into a deep hole.
“We are witnessing various service delivery protests, where communities are expressing dissatisfaction of not having electricity and subsequently due to load shedding no water services.
“This impact of load shedding has huge negative financial consequences for municipal revenues, as more and more municipal customers are looking for alternatives not linked to Eskom-generated electricity. Prolonged electricity outages are resulting in high-revenue losses.”
He said municipalities are trying their best to mitigate this challenge by installing backup generators in some of their mobile and permanent water infrastructures.
However, he said even these generators are not able to assist in situations of prolonged electricity outages.
Ntuli said the generators also require ongoing servicing and maintenance, which comes at a cost. Not all key municipal water infrastructure have backup generators.
Ntuli added that there is also a lack of guidelines, frameworks and government policies in place to aid local government at times like this.
He said without these policies local government, which is charged with the responsibility of water supply by the Constitution, is unable to mitigate the impact of electricity disruptions on water supply to communities.
“We appeal to all KZN communities to give local government a chance to look at alternative energy sources, which will result in gradually transitioning away from Eskom’s coal-generated electricity,” Ntuli said.