Counting the costs of eThekwini’s leaks, burst pipes

FOLLOWING a statement by the Democratic Alliance (DA) stating eThekwini Municipality has failed to respond to more than 18 000 water complaints within 24 hours during Covid-19, the municipality has disputed this, saying it has made ‘tremendous progress’ with regard to its turnaround time.

eThekwini Municipality’s spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela, said the City’s turnaround time when it comes to attending to leaking meters and burst pipes that have been reported is now within 24 hours.

“This is a significant improvement in light of the challenges that we have been experiencing in the past, and the City will continue to keep the momentum after it has re-channeled its resources to focus largely on faults that have been reported within 24 hours. It is also elating to see that we are making a huge progress with regard to clearing all backlog in this regard. We encourage the public to continue to work with us by not only reporting these leaks, but also being vigilant and reporting those who are connecting to our infrastructure illegally and those who are vandalising it,” he said.

Call for urgent intervention

Last week, the DA’s Mzamo Billy, said the party was calling for urgent intervention in the eThekwini Water and Sanitation department (EWS) as the latest monthly report revealed shocking statistics about the performance of the unit between March and September.

ALSO READ: Government must intervene regarding water wastage, says eThekwini councillor

Billy said according to the report submitted to the Human Settlement and Infrastructure Committee, between March, when the national lockdown was first announced, up until September, there were approximately 27 241 water leak complaints reported to the municipality, more than 120 on average per day.

He said of these, 34 per cent were attended to within 24 hours.

“The Municipality has a Service Level Agreement with the residents of this city which makes it abundantly clear that water leaks, burst pipes, and sewage leaks must be attended to within 24 hours. It is clear that this agreement is not being respected and adhered to by the municipality,” he said.

In a case in Umbilo last week, resident of Flamingo Court, David Captain and building trustee, Malie Govender, called Berea Mail to assist after they had been without water for more than three days.

The pair said a valve under Umbilo Road in front of the block broke a month ago. A trench was dug next on the pavement next to the entrance, and a pipe was connected to a nearby fire hydrant to supply the building with water. However, only the first few floors received water supply, and residents on higher up floors were forced to collect water in buckets from the hydrant in the road.

“Residents are old or disabled, and could not collect their own water. There are also children living in flats with no water, which was unhygienic. For days we requested a water tanker come by, but only after the councillor pressured the department did one attend,” said Captain.

Water finally restored

Govender said she had called the municipality on numerous occasions.

“The contractor was supposed to fix the valve under the road and change the whole system, but this hasn’t been done in over a month,” she said. According to Councillor Mmabatho Tembe, water has since been restored to the building. 

Responding to queries by Berea Mail on the matter, eThekwini Municipality’s spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said: “The City is aware of the issue. The connection valve to this complex needs to be changed and customer services will undertake this. A plumber had been dispatched, however, could not complete the job due to bad weather. One will be dispatched again. According to our records the building is getting water but at reduced flow.”

Mzamo added that in the last council meeting, the DA submitted a motion that specifically asked for an investigation to be conducted in the functioning of the water and sanitation unit, in particular, the non-existent maintenance strategy. But this was voted against and subsequently rejected by council.

“Unfortunately, this latest report compiled by EWS reflects the DA’s position that the unit is dysfunctional and requires urgent intervention to save the much-needed revenue which is lost due to unattended leaks and burst pipes. According to findings by the Auditor General, in 2019 the city lost over 126,18 million kilolitres of water due to leaks, which resulted in revenue losses of R968 million. Such audit findings should be addressed through a concrete action plan and improvement strategy but there is simply no plan” he said.

Billy said the DA would continue to highlight this issue until a solid plan is developed by the municipality.

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