Relief in sight for drought-stricken communities
City to pilot drought mitigation project.
The drought-stricken community of eMdloti will soon have 12 new boreholes that will give residents access to up to 10 000 litres of safe potable water per day. This is according to eThekwini Head of Water and Sanitation, Ednick Msweli, who presented the project to the City’s Executive Committee recently. He said that the drought situation was still dire with major dams still sitting below 50 per cent and although Hazelmere Dam was performing well, it could not exceed a capacity of 70 per cent due to a section of the dam wall undergoing repairs.
“The boreholes are going to cost council R5.4million for the 12 containerised plants with an additional R600 000 for the drilling. However, the cost of a litre of water produced from the boreholes would be considerably less than what the city is currently paying uMgeni Water,” he said.
Msweli broke down the cost factors involved in the process and concluded that in 10 years, 438 million litres of water will be produced at the cost of R0.01.
“Each water station would provide 500 people with 20 litres of safe drinking water, every day for life. The stations are low maintenance and only require maintenance work to be done annually. They are portable and solar-powered,” he added.
The stations will be designed, produced and patented locally. They will be placed mainly near schools and clinics in areas severely affected by the drought. If successful, Msweli added that the project will be rolled out in other areas.
