AN oversight visit at the City’s Northern Aqueduct has not revealed good news for uMhlanga and Durban North residents who have had no water for eight days today.
Related story: Three uMhlanga reservoirs still ‘critically low’ despite water-supply improvements
The eThekwini Municipality chairperson of the Governance and Human Capital Committee, Councillor Nkosenhle Madlala, said the City’s bulk water services provider, uMngeni-uThukela Water was also engaged to work alongside the eThekweni Water Services (EWS) team.
“On Sunday morning, EWS teams recorded some improvement overnight after the changeover from Reservoir 3 to Reservoir 2 at uMngeni-uThukela Water’s Durban Heights Waterworks. However, the flow through Northern Aqueducts had still not recovered sufficiently, and as a result, three main reservoirs in uMhlanga were still empty or critically low. Meanwhile, one reservoir in uMhlanga was almost full. But we are not out of the woods yet,” said Madlala.
He said that as a short-term intervention, tankers will continue to supply water to affected customers until the system fully recovers.
Ward 35 councillor Nicole Bollman told residents that the ‘situation is far from ideal.’
“These reservoirs should typically maintain water pressure levels between three and six bars, but currently, all three of them are operating at levels between one and 1.5 bars which continues to impact supply to our residents, businesses and other critical infrastructure,” she said.
“Specifics still remain unclear,” added Bollman.
Earlier this morning, residents gathered with placards at the Sizakala Centre, demanding answers as to when water will be restored.
Jeannie Sarno, chairperson of Umhlanga Tourism, said the situation is catastrophic and has negatively impacted business and tourism which had already been crippled by the constant beach closures.
“No business can operate under these conditions. It is a health hazard. How do we keep our establishments sanitary? Businesses have to dig deeper into their reserves as cleaning, laundry and buying water have not been budgeted for. We are still trying to recover from Covid-19, the chemical spill and the constant beach closures. This is killing business,” she said.
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