Durban - eThekwini Municipality has rolled out several interventions to tackle ongoing water issues, according to City spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela, but damage to infrastructure and illegal connections remains a massive challenge.
Speaking to IOL, Mayisela said they often find that people are connecting to City infrastructure illegally, using materials that are not compatible with City’s systems.
“This results in water leaks. We are appealing to the public to be vigilant and mindful that for us to win the war, we require that the public play its part. It must not only be the responsibility of the City. We want people to join the crusade against vandalism of infrastructure and illegal connections,” said Mayisela.
He urged people to report water leaks soonest.
“Water is a scarce source in SA. We must be cognisant that for us to deliver clean water to the public, we spend hundreds of millions buying water from Umgeni, which needs to be purified. If we work together, we can go a long way to arrest this scourge.”
The City has announced the establishment of a non-revenue water (NRW) task team in the water and sanitation unit that monitors and evaluates various departments' contribution to the Water Conservation and Water Demand Management (WCWDM) strategic plan.
It said the NRW’s key initiatives are to either promote the increase of the billed metered consumption or the reduction of the system input volume.
Material water losses incurred by the municipality for the 2019/20 financial year is estimated to be 185.19 million kilolitres, resulting in revenue losses over R1.72 billion.
These losses were attributed to ageing and deteriorating infrastructure as well as illegal connections.
The WDNRW department has also implemented several water loss interventions:
•Installation of pressure reducing valve (PRV) to reduce the average zone supply pressures within the unit’s new service supply pressure band of 2-6 bar at the meter point. Pressure management will result in extending the useful life of the aged water mains by reducing the leaks and burst frequency. This will have a corresponding proportional drop in real losses.
•Installing bulk meters on the inlets and outlets of all reservoirs to monitor water consumption within the water supply network. These meters enable the operations team to monitor the performance of the reservoir by implementing proactive, appropriate technical, and social preventative measures in attending to poor performing reservoir zones.
•Replacement of all pipes, both main line and service connections, in selected poor performing reservoir zones that have been identified using the established prioritisation model.
The following key initiatives will be implemented to reduce the water losses and to increase the billed metered consumption:
•Installation of bulk meters to informal settlements.
•Installation of meters in rural areas.
•Installation of meters in housing project areas; and
•Upgrade to industrial, commercial, and institutional water meter installations.
•Installation of meters to CABs.
•Illegal connection removal.
•Formalising unmetered connections.
•Reducing the number of estimated readings.
•Reducing the number of zero readings.
•Introduction of pre-paid and smart water meters.
Key initiatives will be undertaken to reduce the real losses, which in turn will reduce the system input volume/ response times to leaks and bursts.
Benefits include:
•Speedy response to leaks and bursts.
•Speedy and proactive identification of leaks and bursts.
•Proactive leak detection and repair.
•Monitoring of minimum night flows at reservoir zones.
•Maintenance of key water infrastructure (bulk pipelines, PRVs, reservoirs, pump stations).
•Step-testing of high-pressure trunk mains.
Last year, the City adopted a New Zonal Water Balance Strategy.
According to the municipal website, the eThekwini Municipality as an extensive bulk water supply network which extends from the custody transfer points/points of purchase from uMgeni Water down to 270 major reservoirs that service the entire city.
“The objective of a detailed Zonal Water Balance Strategy is to ensure that the water purchased from uMgeni Water is realised in corresponding sales and revenue for the City. Currently 52 percent of these purchases results in NRW.
“Arising from the zonal water balance analysis, the aim is to co-ordinate and synchronise various departmental tasks to reduce the bulk purchases from uMgeni Water and increase the sales, thereby reaching system optimisation and equilibrium with minimal system losses."
“Public awareness and water conservation programmes will be rolled out for schools, ablution care takers, communities together with a payment for basic services programme and pre-paid metering.”
Where to report: 0803111111 (Toll-Free) WhatsApp 0731483477 or email [email protected]
IOL