Ladysmith KZN – Egerton Primary School was forced to close its doors today (September 22) due to the school not having water. The Egerton suburb is one of the areas hardest hit by water-shedding due to its position in the reticulation system.
Update: Correctional Services and parts of the Hospital Park area are also currently sitting without water. However, it is believed that a major burst pipe in Viljoen Street is the cause of this water outage.
Towards the end of last month (August), uThukela District Municipality released a statement with regards to water-shedding that would affect many areas of the town.
Water-shedding is still in place and that is the reason for the water issues being experienced in many areas at the moment. In the statement, it was said by uThukela communications manager Jabulani Mkhonza that, “The Klip River water level is dropping quickly, day by day, due to no rainfall in the catchment area. Already, it is only possible to pump with one pump from the abstraction point for only a few hours a day.
“In addition, a water-shedding schedule was implemented as from August 17 and is still continuing, stopping the pump at 8pm from the Golf Course Reservoir up to Observation Hill and surrounding areas to build up water stock levels. The pump will restart again at 5am in order to supply water to both businesses and residential areas. This schedule is set to continue until sufficient rainfall is received in the catchment area of the Klip River.
“The areas that are affected by water shortages and restrictions will be: Ladysmith town, Steadville, Danskraal, Modelkloof, Mkhamba Gardens, Observation Hill, Acaciavale and Roosboom.
“The public is urged to use water sparingly when they do receive water and also to store water for the days when there is no water.”
