Water back in taps but crisis not over
The crisis is not over as blue skies dominate with no sign of rain
Water was flowing again in Dundee taps (and in parts of Glencoe) at around sunset last night but Pradeep Ramlal of Umzinyathi District Municipality says the crisis is not over.
He apologised for the water outage that saw the town without water for nearly 24 hours. Low lying areas were not affected as gravity fed what water there was in the reservoir into the pipes.
Mr Ramlall said a combination of factors had impacted on the Tayside pump station from where the Biggarsberg Water Treatment Plant receives water. “There was an Eskom problem in the Tayside area that damaged the electrical workings at the pump station. We have had also had to cope with load shedding in that area which impacts heavily on pumping.”
uThukela Water, who are responsible for the bulk water supply, and Umzinyathi were working closely together to overcome the problem, he said.
Experts had to be brought in from Johannesburg to repair the electrical and mechanical faults on the pumps. Water started trickling through the system again late in the afternoon. “Only once the reservoir is 45% full will the whole area receive water. It may be sandy because of low water levels but it has been tested and is fit for human use.”
He said seven water tankers were sent to Dundee and Glencoe for residents to get water from but areas ‘where there are the most people and who have not had water for the day would be prioritised.’
Many residents contacted the Courier to say no tankers came to their area and that the announcements from a car were inaudible.
The lack of summer rains has impacted heavily on the water resources. Mr Ramlall said ‘other measures are being used to access raw water’. However, there are short term and long term measures in place.
Umzinyathi was one of several areas in KZN declared drought areas in October by the Provincial Government but funds to assist with the situation still have to come through.
