Water shedding ahead: eThekwini to implement year-long water restrictions from next week

EThekwini Municipality Mayor, Councillor Cyril Xaba has announced impending water curtailment for the Umngeni-Uthukela Water boards, leaving residents with water rationing and restrictions this summer.

Xaba was briefing the media about the water concerns surrounding billing issues and revenue generation in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).

The curtailment will begin on 10 October and will run for a year.

The Department of Water and Sanitation has requested the Umngeni-Uthukela Water boards to draw less water from the Umngeni system cutting down the water supplied from 1 406 megalitres to 1 287 megalitres per day.

This is to ensure that in case of a drought, the system is able to continuously and reliably supply eThekwini municipality with water.

Water interventions

Xaba said multiple factors contributed to the high demand for water. Among those, he listed rapid urbanisation and aging infrastructure which led to water leaks and illegal connections.

The eThekwini Municipality will implement water meter restrictors, metering all unmetered consumers, pledger reduction in the reticulation network, and quicker service response in leak repairs and pipe bursts through the deployment of ward-based plumbers.

Xaba also promised to disconnect illegal connections, and water rationing where demand is too high or exceeds available supply.

He said he met with retired engineers who agreed with some of these measures.

Xaba added that the municipality and relevant water associates scheduled weekly meetings on Fridays to assess the progress on the infrastructure upgrading and repair projects.

“Tomorrow [Friday] we’ll be starting to conduct these meetings on-site in water reservoirs that are giving us challenges.

“Starting from the northern areas, our intention is to quickly resolve identified challenges in our water and sanitation infrastructure,” said Xaba.

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Debt relief

Xaba said eThekwini Municipality carried out a successful debt relief program which concluded in July.

He said the relief program was extended to the end of December.

“The previous debt relief program saw over 25 000 applications and a total collection of R13.6 million.

“What makes this relief programme unique this time around is that it will now incorporate a dispute resolution mechanism,” Xaba added.

Eligible customers include those who are in arrears for over 90 days. According to Xaba, after paying the debt, the resident’s accumulated interest is scrapped.

He advised customers against falling behind on payment for over a year after settling their outstanding debt.

The debt relief programme only accommodates residential consumers, businesses and non-governmental organisations.

Xaba emphasised that government departments and state-owned entities were excluded.

ALSO READ: Municipal debt at R22bn: These areas could run out of water as boards go bankrupt

uMngeni-uThukela Water municipal debt

The Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation in August warned that municipalities owing millions of rands to the Department of Water and Sanitation would be without water in the next 6 to 12 months.

uMngeni-uThukela Water boards were part of these municipalities with debt.

The three most problematic municipalities owed R1 779 219.

They are:

• King Cetshwayo District Municipality R875 204;
• Ugu District Municipality R390 778;
• Msunduzi Municipality R513 237;

The other municipalities owed a total of R1 157 409.

• Ethekwini Municipality R412 703;
• Uthukela District Municipality R166 501;
• Msunduzi Municipality R186 381;
• Siza Water R122 024;
• uMkhanyakude District Municipality R41 861;
• Ethekwini Municipality R70 036;
• Uthukela District Municipality R13 921;
• Msunduzi Municipality R9 862;
• Ugu District Municipality R5 290;
• Ugu District Municipality R6 393;
• Msunduzi Municipality R5 415;
• Siza Water R4 925;
• Msunduzi Municipality R4 810;
• Siza Water R3 613;
• Alfred Nzo District Municipality R5 658;
• Other R98 017.

While some municipalities may be up to date with their payments, non-payment by their counterparts could affect them should their shared water board go bankrupt.

“If a water board goes bankrupt and stops functioning, it will stop providing water to all its municipal customers, not just the ones which are not paying,” said Phillips.