Bothas Hill water problems continue

BOTHA’S Hill residents can expect a normal flow of water after the completion of the Western Aqueduct project which is under construction.

For the past few months, Botha’s Hill residents have been experiencing water problems and on occasion have lived without water for days.

Ednick Msweli, head of Water and Sanitation at eThekwini said the interruption of bulk water supply in late July this year caused a ripple effect in the EWS system and hence it has been extremely difficult to regain sustainability in the north western water network system which includes 22 dependent reservoirs.

“The water network system has not recovered sustainably since this incident on Saturday, 29 July.

” Our operational water network teams have been manually manipulating the system to get water into the various storage reservoirs which sometimes include the total closure of Botha’s Hill reservoir,” said Msweli.

Msweli added that the rapid urbanization, power outages and cable theft, illegal water connections, aging infrastructure and blatant destruction thereof, are all contributing factors to the major challenges that the department is faced with water service delivery in the north western area of Ethekwini.

“This manipulation is being carried out in an attempt to obtain sustainable water levels in Botha’s Hill reservoirs,” said Msweli.

This has resulted in intermittent water supply into the Botha’s Hills, Assagay, Summerveld, Waterfall, Crestholme and Molweni areas. It also affects the KwaNyuswa Valley and Embo Valley consumers..

“In the very short term, currently phase two of the Western Aqueduct project is under construction, and on the completion of this project should allow sustainable levels of water to be distributed from the Alverstone Nek reservoir, which is the pivotal reservoir in this system,” he said.

Ward 9 councillor, Sithembiso Mchunu said the water problem is really frustrating as there is no one in the water department who is giving them straight answers.

“I have heard that there is a problem with a reservoir which does not fill up as it should. I have asked the water department to put up notices to warn people when the water will be cut off. The public needs to be alerted and informed about the changes,” said Mchunu.