Durban - The Ugu District Municipality said the decision to supply the South Coast community with salt water was deliberate as it found itself between a rock and a hard place.
But that decision, after the main water reservoir in the area had run dry, has had a near-devastating impact on this tourism hub.
Areas like Port Shepstone, Margate and Hibberdene have now had only salty water for more than a week, and residents and visitors have been forced to buy drinking water.
By Monday, hotel operators said the salt concentration in the water had declined and they hoped the situation would be brought under control soon, and never be allowed to happen again.
The area is not out of the woods yet. The signs of the crisis are everywhere.
JoJo tanks are placed all over the area and some were empty as dejected people with water containers walked away without water.
Municipal spokesman France Zama said the municipality was forced to react to the crisis.
“We had to make a decision whether to not supply water or supply the salted water,” he told the Mercury on Monday.
He said the Bhobhoyi dam was completely empty, forcing them to draw water directly from the Umzimkhulu River.
“Because the river was low the sea was more forceful. Instead of the river going into the sea, the sea was going up the river.”
Zama said the situation had been brought under control and he hoped it would be resolved by the end of the week.
Residents and business people in Margate said the salt concentration in the water had declined, but the water was still not usable.
“We have not been able to wash the linen because of the water being salty. It tastes like pure seawater, said Jabu Ncane, an employee at the Oasis Lodge in Margate.
“We still cannot drink this water and guests complain that the water makes their skin itch.
“We have guests booked in for December. They are phoning, asking what the water is like.
“That is very concerning to us because December is one of our busiest times,” she said.
Sakkie Coetzee, from the Margate Sands Hotel, said it was disappointing that the municipality had not bothered to tell residents beforehand that salt water was being pumped into the system.
He had spent thousands of rands on water.
“I have five JoJo tanks with almost 50 000 litres of water that we normally use to pump the water up to the higher floors or when the municipality water pressure is low. We had to use that water to supply the guests and it was finished in two days.”
He said water was being brought in from as far as Durban and Pietermaritzburg.
Some retailers had seen an opportunity to profit from the crisis and were doubling their prices.
Andrew Strike, from a Spar in Margate, said they had not inflated their water prices. He too was buying water to run his business.
He also said the municipality had left them in lurch. “People were coming here and when we ran out of water, the public were upset with us. That created a bad impression.”
Strike said the crisis was damaging for the town.
The Mercury
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