Concerns surrounding water for residents along the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal have grown in recent years, with little hope for the future when taking the current outdated water infrastructure that is being used.
While some people within the Ugu District Municipality, particularly the Ray Nkonyeni Local Municipality, are of the view that the current water system has failed and unable to meet the demand, there are those with a more optimistic view and hope for the future.
The one thing that all of these parties IOL has spoken to agree on, is the fact that those with power and authority have been slow to act in getting major expansion projects off the ground. Projects that would enable the municipality to function at its required level in terms of water service delivery.
This discussion stemmed from a South African Human Rights Commission report into the KZN water crisis, which was released on Monday. It said it was shameful that in 30 years so little had been done to improve water provision, a basic human right.
The SAHRC said that there was no evidence of maintenance on water infrastructure in Port Shepstone, the town situated in the Ray Nkonyeni Municipality.
But a local resident and civil engineer, Tarell Krishna said this was not entirely true and that many small upgrades have been done over the years, with large projects in the pipeline.
“The municipality has just replaced around 40 to 50 main valves and valve chambers in the south and northern area to the value of around R30 million.
“There has been a pipeline replacement in several streets in the Shelly Beach and Margate area over the past three months.
“A service provider has just been appointed to upgrade the Bhobhoyi water treatment plant to the valve of +- R120 million.
“There are plans as well to upgrade the St Helen's Rock abstraction point that is a major source of water to a large part of the Ray Nkonyeni Municipality area,” Krishna told IOL.
The Ray Nkonyeni Local Municipality extracts water from the Umzimkulu River, which then makes its way to the St Helen’s Rock pump station and is pumped to the Bhobhoyi water treatment plant.
From the water treatment plant, the water is distributed throughout the current network.
Krishna also said it is worth nothing that a large part of the area is rural.
IOL got in touch with an engineer who is a part of the upgrade project at the St Helen’s Rock point, who asked to remain anonymous.
The source said the plans about the upgrades at the St Helen’s Rock were public knowledge and that there are plans to expand the current water infrastructure but “high up authorities” have been slow to give them the green light.
“From what I understand, the municipality is extracting around two thirds of its allowed amount from the Umzimkulu. That water is meant for around a quarter of a million people (250,000). That right there is the first problem. They are not extracting enough water.
“But there are plans afoot to, you know, expand the pipelines, which runs for about 2,000 kilometres. So you can imagine just what a complex and intricate operation it is. A lot of Ray Nkonyeni is rural, so the pipes are never just straight forward, they go up and down and so on.
“There is also a plan to build a dam to store water from the Umzimkulu so when there is a shortage, we can use the dam to store water. All of these plans are done, drawings and everything, we just need to get the go-ahead from the powers that be,” the source explained.
Leon Gabarde, ward 12 councillor in the Ray Nkonyeni Municipality, however, was not as optimistic as Krishna and the engineer, saying he agreed one hundred percent with the SAHRC report.
Gabarde said his experiences over the past five years led him to believe that the entire Ray Nkonyeni water system is broken and incapable of meeting the demand, which has grown significantly over the last decade.
Gabarde said the local government shows little to no interest in fixing the issues, which have left residents in an undignified state, to say the least. He also said that President Cyril Ramaphosa was aware of the water problems in the Ugu district, but still nothing has been done.
“I’ll give you an incident so I can paint a picture of what it's like for residents in Ugu. A couple of years ago, I was going to a council meeting. This was while we were in the middle of a dry spell. I think we didn’t have water for like 31 days.
“An elderly lady, she was 83 at the time, a devout Muslim, asked me why I am going to the council meeting. She told me to carry a message for her to the council. She said: ‘Please tell them that they have reduced me to nothing. For the last couple of weeks, I, as a Muslim woman, had to use a spade as a toilet and throw it away because there was no water to flush my toilet with’.
“Imagine, an 83 year-old woman telling you this?
“I can give you countless instances about how much residents have to suffer without water. It is common knowledge now,” Gabarde said.
Earlier this month, Ramaphosa was addressing Parliament and said he was aware of the water issues perplexing Ugu.
“The issue of Ugu is in the process of being discussed further and ways of having it addressed are also being looked at. The Minister of Water and Sanitation is also aware of the challenges that Ugu is facing,” he said.
IOL has also reached out to authorities in Ugu for comment regarding the water issue who said they have received the SAHRC report and will respond in due course.
This is a developing story.
IOL