Submitted by uThukela District Municipality
Water is one necessity that all living things are dependent on. On a planet with no water, there would be no life at all.
So, in an effort to ensure that everyone in the uThukela District has access to this precious resource, District Mayor Siphiwe Mazibuko visited Emaswazini in Ward 4 on June 16 to ‘hand over’ a spring water scheme.
He was accompanied by Okhahlamba Deputy Mayor Cllr Ngozo; Water, Sanitation & Technical Services chairperson Cllr S Dlungwane; GM: Water & Technical Services N Khuzwayo; a technical team and officials.
The uThukela District Technical Services team built the spring protection scheme to provide water to the community of Emaswazini.
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The duration of the project was two months and it is estimated that the project cost around R490,000 to implement.
The scheme, located high up in the mountains, consists of three static tanks. It draws water from the mountain spring and feeds a large part of Ward 4 in the Emaswazini area. People will now have access to water supply closer to their homes.
According to area engineer S Mazibuko, the project has been successful in its implementation.
Another project down the hills was implemented, but there was an outcry from the community, saying that not all of them were getting water from it. So they pointed out that there was a spring up in the mountains that can feed many people, hence the project was initiated.
The tanks are located at least a kilometre below the spring. There are about 30 standpipe connections supplying water to the communities.
The deputy mayor is happy and grateful that the community of Emaswazini will be accessing water from now on.
“We hope uThukela District will also do the same in other areas as well. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about new challenges, but please don’t despair,” she said.
Cllr Dlungwane acknowledged the shortage of resources, including manpower, but commended the team for a sterling job. He said the technical team is currently busy constructing a sewer station in Bergville, and they will need more manpower and skills development.
Mayor Mazibuko reiterated the previous speakers’ sentiments when he admitted that the district faces a challenge with regards to the issue of water and sanitation provision, but thanked the technical team for a job well done.
“We have a responsibility to service our communities all the time. Okhahlamba is rich with an abundance of water, yet they are having challenges with the supply. The national government has a plan to assist the community with reliable water supply,” commented the mayor.
He said it was always good to utilise internal services rather than outsourcing and went on to say that “we have to build capacity internally so we can rely on ourselves”.
“We have many projects to refurbish our schemes, but we also have illegal connections. We hope having more schemes will assist in cutting out the utilisation of the water tanker system. Other projects are also in the pipeline. All wards that have challenges will be attended to as well. The safety of our infrastructure relies much on the community,” concluded the mayor.
Vandalism and the theft of generators is a huge challenge.
Speaking on behalf of the community, Gogo Zwane conveyed appreciation for the work done by the team. She said that before the project, they used to fetch water from the river far away from homes.
The team then visited the Mnweni water reservoir, which is going to connect a few reservoirs to feed the whole of Ward 4.
The reservoir draws raw water from the nearby river. The project manager said that once the job is finished, nobody will run out of water. The project is being undertaken by Sydwalt Construction.
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