THE eThekwini Municipality says ‘elements of sabotage’ are suspected to be behind the water outage that has plagued North Durban for the last five days.
According to City spokesperson Gugu Sisalana, the City will engage law enforcement agencies to investigate the possibility of sabotage targeted at its water infrastructure.
“The elements of sabotage are suspected after technical teams discovered an air valve in a water pipeline that was tampered with and another valve that was vandalised. This comes as our technical teams continue with an assessment on the northern aqueduct to ascertain the root cause of the reduced flow that has resulted in the interruption of water supply in uMhlanga, Durban North and surrounding areas.
Related article: WATCH: Durban North residents protest over continued water interruption
“No major water leaks or burst pipes supplying these areas have been detected. As part of other interventions to remedy the situation, City officials will meet this morning with our bulk water supplier, uMngeni-uThukela Water, to implement alternative supply options,” she said.
On Friday, residents’ frustrations reached boiling point as an informal protest was staged outside the Virginia Reservoir, which included four ward councillors, Nicole Bollman, Bobby Maharajh, Shontel de Boer and Aamir Abdul.
According to the City, reservoir outlets have been opened, however, the situation is still critical due to unstable outflows on the aqueduct feeding to the reservoirs.
“Reservoirs on lower levels have improved, however, this may change during the cause of the day, depending on consumer consumption patterns. Residents are therefore requested to please use water sparingly to prevent reservoirs from running empty as this may prolong the recovery period,” she said.
Also read: Taps run dry for days in uMhlanga
Sisalana added that municipal officials are also continuously updating ward councillors in the affected areas and informing them of all planned interventions to improve the situation.
In the meantime, water tankers will continue to supply residents until the system fully recovers.
Affected areas include:
- Durban North High-Level Reservoir: Redhill, Durban North Area, Beachway, Umgeni Park, Athlone, Japanese Gardens and Riverside.
- Durban North Low-Level Reservoir: Beachway and Riverside.
- Virginia 1 & 2 Reservoir: Glen Anil, Glen Hills, Umhlanga Rocks Drive, parts of Umgeni Park, Blackburn Road, Parkhill and certain roads in Effingham.
- uMhlanga North Reservoir: uMhlanga CBD.
- uMhlanga South Reservoir: uMhlanga CBD and La Lucia.
- Sunningdale Reservoir and Towers: Sunningdale, La Lucia, La Lucia Mall, Glen Ashley, Glen Anil, Somerset Park, uMhlanga and La Lucia Ridge.
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