Ugu District Municipality has released the following statement regarding the water situation:
AREA SOUTH CENTRAL: Ray Nkonyeni Municipality
The Umzimkhulu River has reached critical levels necessitating St Helen’s Rock low-lifts to be lifted above river level in order to avoid damage of infrastructure.
This means:
• St Helens Rock Pump Station is offline and no water is pumped to Bhobhoyi water works.
• Bhobhoyi water works has reached precarious storage levels, this system will be offline as a result.
To avoid the collapse of the entire system, the following decision has been taken and is currently being implemented:
• All outlets of the reservoirs are being shut off to retain water, so that after this emergency water can instantly be restored.
(Although South reservoir levels are healthy a precautionary measure to shut is carried out as the length of the flooding period in uMzimkhulu reservoir is unknown ).
• A team has been stationed at the St Helen’s Rock Pump Station in order to take decisions when conditions change or worsen .
• Where there are current pipe breaks, delays are expected as ground conditions are not permitting repairs .
• There is also damage to sewer infrastructure where the pump station at Borrow Grounds in Port Shepstone has been totally flooded.
AREA NORTH: Umzumbe LM and Umdoni LM
● Umthwalume Water Treatment Works is currently experiencing water disruptions due to high raw water turbidity being above 1000NTU. Raw water pumps are struggling to function as a result of high river levels from upstream, therefore the purification process and production have to be shutdown.
NB
● Ndelu Water Treatment Works: is running at a reduced production due to high river levels from Umthwalume river and low lift pumps keep tripping, Plant operator will switch off the pumps as a preventative measure, as Ixobho pump station is not accessible to restart the pumps due to bad access.
● Vulamehlo Water Treatment Works is currently offline due to mechanical fault from the low lift pump. Arrangements to transport the damaged duty pump to supplier and get the pump repaired have been initiated. In addition to the above the bad weather conditions might affect the collection of the pump and access roads to the plant.
Affected areas:
Nyavini, KwaNkosi, Jolvet, Qhamuka, Manyusweni, from Kenterton to Breamar and part of supply areas under Harry Gwala District Municipality.
● Mbiyane Borehole Water Supply: Water supply is interrupted, since this requires a specialist, Service provider has been allocated and expected to visit the site to conduct assessment and get the borehole repaired to restore water supply. Service provider is yet to confirm lead times. The main challenge now is to access the site due to bad weather.
Mhlabatshana Water Supply System: The plant purification and production processes are still running as normal, bulk distribution pipelines are expected to be disturbed due to floods, Team will check the lines where sites are accessible.
● Hlokozi Water Treatment Works: The plant is offline due to high river levels that have flooded the pumps and treatment site.
●Umzinto Water Treatment Works: System is running but at a reduced production (40%) due to high river levels at Esperanza river and pumps are battling to abstract raw water. Ellingham treated water from South Coast Pipeline is still augmenting Umzinto Water Treatment Works.
Plant reservoir levels are critically low.
Affected Areas: Umzinto CBD, Mzinto heights, Roshan Heights, Riverside Park, Mbilimbili Farm, Farm Isonti, Esperanza, Malangeni, KwaCele, Dududu, Amandawe, Pennington, Cabana Sands (also affected by 150mm pipe break and Malibu heights).
● Freeland Park reservoirs are also dropping, Team will check the condition of the pumps from the pump station to see if they are not flooded as it is situated at a low post not far from the stream.
● Park Rynie, Scottburgh Central and South Reservoirs levels are still averaging just above 50% and are expected to feed the areas of supply, team will also check pipe breaks that could affect the storage capacity as the bad weather conditions also affect the stability of water supply.
●KwaCele to Upper Amandawe (Ward 17) supply is interrupted as a result of watermain burst from Nkonka reservoir to KwaCele reservoir to Philani Reservoir that feeds Ward 17. Teams have isolated the line to prevent further damages to adjacent properties as the land slides.
● Burst pipe corner of Cabin and Cove way Umthwalume.
● Amahlongwa and part of Amandawe: Water supply is disrupted due low suction from Ethekwini Metro Bulk. Standby team is trying to gain access to Willowglen Pump Station meanwhile engagement between Ethekwini Metro Team and Ugu teams are underway to establish the latest challenges.
● Kwalembe Water Treatment Works is still offline. The filter pump was expected to be delivered today, however due to bad weather conditions, the progress is disturbed. In addition to that, high river levels from Umkhomazi river have been witnessed and were still going to affect low lift pump at the abstraction chamber.
● Sanitation operations Systems: Waste water treatment works are affected as the inflows increased and some of the waste water pump station is flooded such as Pennington No. 3 and this is also expected to other major sewer pump stations, however some sites are not accessible currently.
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