DURBAN - As residents deal with water outages across eThekwini Municipality, Umgeni Water has said restoration of potable water production at the Hazelmere Water Treatment Plant, north of Durban has begun.
Umgeni Water said at noon today, the plant was producing 25 megalitres of water – approximately one-third its daily output – which was being distributed to eThekwini Municipality, iLembe District Municipality and Siza Water on a rotational basis.
“This means that potable water available is being supplied to the three customers in intervals of five hours, in this way ensuring some water is provided to consumers served by them,” the water utility said.
It said if all goes according to plan, full production will be reached by tomorrow.
“This is dependent on turbidity decreasing significantly and on the quality of final water. Once full production is achieved and the levels of storage reservoirs improve, Umgeni Water will be able to increase supply to its customers, ultimately meeting full demands.”
It said on Wednesday, production was temporarily halted due to a large increase in suspended solids/sediment from the Hazelmere Dam, from where the Hazelmere Water Treatment Plant draws its water.
“Operating the plant under these conditions would have resulted in poor water quality, which would not be compliant with SANS 241:2015 and would have represented a potential risk to public health.
“Therefore, Umgeni Water took a decision to stop production until the raw water quality improved.”
Umgeni Water explained that heavy downpours from Friday to Monday in the catchments of Hazelmere Dam contributed to poor water quality, as the run-off brought with it extremely high sediment load and foreign materials.