ALL hands to pump is the resolution taken by eThekwini Municipality after conceding that it was losing billions of rand in revenue from water losses including burst pipes and an unmetered water supply.
In attempting to resolve the dire straits situation, the municipality’s Water and Sanitation department’s “Turnaround Strategy Business Plan” is expected to be tabled before an eThekwini Executive Committee meeting next Tuesday.
As part of the way forward, the EWS unit plans to install 88 972 water restrictors to households in the south Durban area urgently.
The plan will address, among other issues, curbing water losses by detecting and repairing water leaks, replacement, and installation of meters so that the city is able to account for every drop of water provided to residents. The municipality accepted that it was losing billions of rand in revenue from water losses, which accounts for 40% of the revenue that the city is unable to collect because of the shortcomings.
eThekwini Mayor Cyril Xaba stated that management would no longer engage in endless discussions regarding water challenges
“The provision of water is an Apex priority in the city, and it is in this context that we now want to hold the management accountable to a clear action plan. We are confident these interventions will reduce non-revenue water, currently exceeding 50%. This will be the first step to ensuring that we have sufficient water for everyone,” Xaba said.He said closing leakages in the water network was vital if the city wanted to run a sustainable water service.
“Even if we were to get additional volumes of water, this will be a futile exercise because more than half of it is unaccounted for. All Exco members speak with one voice and there is consensus that it cannot be used for political point scoring.”
Xaba said the city management was not interested in lame excuses and processes: “We want to know how many of those communities have started receiving water. I am using the term communities and not areas deliberately.”
Head of Water and Sanitation Ednick Msweli said there were 265 reservoirs in the municipality; and they have begun installing restrictors in uMlazi.
“We need to allocate additional resources to significantly increase our pace,” Msweli said.
DA Exco member Thabani Mthethwa requested feedback on when the EWS will begin connecting those that are illegally connected to the system so that they pay for water.
Another DA Exco member, Andre Beetge, said the southern aqueduct has been problematic with consistent leaks, leaving the southern area of Isipingo without water for 96 hours.
Beetge said residents and businesses were asking about the outages and hoping for solutions.
IFP Exco member Mdu Nkosi called for more financial support for the EWS.
“We need more resources. Colleagues who do not support the budget will now be able to support the adjustment budget,” Nkosi added.
uMngeni-uThukela Water Board (UUW) has implemented water curtailment throughout eThekwini Municipality until September 2025.
The curtailment is being implemented at the directive of the Department of Water and Sanitation, which told UUW to reduce the volume of water abstracted from the uMngeni system to their licensed volumes of 470 million m3/annum. This will mean a reduction on the current sales and abstraction volume of 8.4%.
DAILY NEWS