Durban – The DA in eThekwini metro has called on the Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister and wrote to eThekwini metro’s head of water and sanitation to intervene, as parts of eThekwini spent a second week without water.
The metro has issued a public notice saying it was aware of the water issue.
In a statement, DA eThekwini caucus leader Thabani Mthethwa said he wrote to eThekwini’s head of water and sanitation Ednick Msweli, asking for more water tankers to be made available to communities in the northern parts of eThekwini.
Mthethwa said areas including Newlands, Ntuzuma, uMhlanga, Verulam and Phoenix spent two weeks without running water in their taps.
“We have received numerous complaints from distressed residents regarding the metro’s failure to provide temporary relief, including a shortage of water tankers,” Mthethwa said.
He said according to uMngeni-uThukela Water, the water outages are due to filters being clogged by algae at the Durban Heights Water-Treatment Works.
Mthethwa said the DA has also engaged with the DA Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation Isaac Seitlholo to request that he intervene to ensure that uMngeni-uThukela addresses the matter speedily and avoids similar incidents, going forward.
“It is unacceptable that in a metropolitan municipality, we have residents that go for days without water and fail to make means available to ensure that water is restored,” Mthethwa said.
“The DA will continue to hold officials accountable to ensure that residents are the priority and that this terrible situation is resolved,” he added.
Meanwhile, on eThekwini metro’s Facebook page on Sunday, it issued a public notice about a water supply disruption in the City’s northern areas.
The metro said it is aware of the ongoing water outage and intermittent supply affecting areas in the northern part of eThekwini.
Affected areas include parts of Phoenix, Ntuzuma, parts of KwaMashu, Cornubia, Mountview, parts of Durban North, and Virginia.
“This is due to the metro being supplied with reduced volumes of water by uMngeni-uThukela Water through the Durban Heights Treatment Works,” the metro said.
It said that as per recent statements issued by the water entity, the volume reduction is due to filters being clogged by large volumes of algae.
“A number of interventions are in progress to resolve this challenge,” the metro said.
It said as of Sunday, only one bulk pipeline was open to convey water from the Durban Heights Treatment Works to the City’s reservoirs. This has resulted in a much lower rate of water going into our water reticulation, which is already depleted.
“The public is urged to be patient while interventions to build sufficient water levels on the storage and distribution reservoirs are under way,” the metro said.
“Water tankers are being deployed to the affected areas. However, due to the extent of the areas affected, water tankers are overstretched.”
The metro apologised for any inconvenience caused.
For more information regarding water supply, the public can download eThekwini metro’s mobile app to log faults or send a WhatsApp to 073 1483 477. Alternatively, call the toll-free number on 080 311 1111 or email [email protected]
In a statement last week, the water entity said its Durban Heights Water-Treatment Works was treating reduced volumes of water due to filters being clogged by large volumes of algae. This has affected the volumes of treated water supplied to some parts of the north and south of eThekwini metro.
It explained that over the past two weeks, there has been a substantial increase in volumes of algae in water received from the Albert Falls-Nagle Dam system. While the increased presence of algae is not common in the colder winter season, there has been an increased algal count at the Durban Heights Water Works which has led to the clogging of filters. Due to this increased presence of algae in raw water, the Durban Heights Water-Treatment Works is currently unable to treat the full amounts of raw water it normally supplies to its customers.
“… uMngeni-uThukela Water is currently implementing a number of interventions including optimising its water-treatment processes and using advanced chemical-treatment methods to unclog its filters. We are also undertaking ongoing water quality and quantity monitoring to ensure the production of safe drinking water,” the water entity said.
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