eMdloti’s water woes explained

AIR caught in the city’s water system during the daily cut-off periods could indeed alter residents’ meter readings, confirmed Ashan Nandlal, eThekwini’s senior manager for water operations last week. He said it was one of the many reasons why other suggested forms of water conservation methods were not feasible.

Nandlal made the announcement during a special meeting in eMdloti. Residents in the area have in recent months suffered through daily water restrictions. Since the restrictions were implemented in November, the residents have been demanding to know why ‘extreme’ water saving methods were only being implemented in eMdloti.

According to Nandlal the city has been battling to keep up with the water demand as Umgeni Water has restricted it’s supplies to approximately 60 per cent of the normal water volumes with the current drought.

“We are given a specific quota, like 90 million litres at the point of sale and that’s it. We have to then share that quota between the Verulam, Waterloo, Ballito, Ilembe and eMdloti,” he said.

This process often becomes chaotic as officials are forced to ‘juggle’ the water supply from one community to another, depending on demand, he said.

What’s more, he said the tiny coastal town’s water woes have been exacerbated by residents who have ‘cheated’ the system with JoJo tanks.

“Initially the volume that we supplied to your area was sufficient and everybody had water. That was for the first three months. But what many people have done now is they have hooked the tanks to the potable supply and are draining the supply as soon as it enters the system, leaving little if any water for people at the top sections of the community,” he said.

These tanks are welcomed by the city, he said, but only to store rain water, which could be used to relieve the potable supply.

Nandlal further explained that until recently, eMdloti was the first and only community to have suffered through water restrictions because the severe drought had caused the Hazelmere Dam, which provides the town with its water supply, to dip to 25 per cent. Albert Falls and Inanda Dam, which supplies the greater Durban area, however, hadn’t dipped below 60 per cent.

Light at the end of the tunnel:

During the meeting, Nandlal assured the community that several solutions are in progress and officials are hopeful that they would relieve the water crisis in the near future.

The Department of Water and Sanitation, he said, is raising the wall of the Hazelmere Dam, which would increase the water source’s storage volume by 2017.

What’s more, the city has also made provisions to divert water earmarked for the Cornubia development from the Phoenix area, to the Waterloo Reservoir (which, through the Hazelmere Dam supplies eMdloti and the surrounding communities) to supplement the current demand.

“The pipelines have been built and everything is ready, unfortunately Durban is on restrictions as well. So, now we don’t have the water at the moment,” he said.

The last alternative was to divert water from the Lower Tugela Scheme. “That works will be commissioned and Umgeni will be supplying us water by the end of July. The water will be diverted to Ballito and Illembe to reserve or relieve a portion of the demand in the area north of Durban,” he said.