Senzo Mchunu, the minister of the Department of Water and Sanitation, visited Umkomaas last weekend where he commended progress on the implementation of the Lower uMkhomazi Water Scheme project.
The project will increase raw water availability and meet the demand of some 50 000 households on the South Coast in eThekwini and Ugu municipalities.
The province is currently battling with water shortages and this project is expected to bring relief.
Mchunu and deputy ministers David Mahlobo and Judith Tshabalala, with the mayors of the districts and traditional leaders, visited construction sites currently underway at the uMkhomazi River last Saturday.
The team conducted a site inspection visit at Phase 1 of the project, Goodenough Abstraction Point and Pumping Systems, which is currently at 46% progress.
The minister expressed his gratitude for the advancements made on the project which is expected to be completed in December 2027.
“We are pleased by the progress made by the contractor’s determination and the capacity which is demonstrated by being ahead with about 6% of the expected schedule. This project will augment water in the South Coast areas that have been experiencing challenges for a long time, and we are confident that the project will meet the demands in the area, even in the foreseeable future.”
The Lower uMkhomazi Bulk Water Supply is worth more than R20 billion with Umngeni-Uthugela Water as the implementing agent and is situated in eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality (Ward 99) and Umdoni Local Municipality (Ward 18).
The project has been previously plagued by delays, but it has finally taken off after the minister’s intervention.
It is divided into two phases, the first consists of a raw water component comprising of two independent systems: the Ngwadini system with off-channel storage, and the Goodenough System with abstraction works and raw water storage reservoir.
Phase 2 entails a potable water component comprising of the following packages: 100Ml/day Water Treatment Works; 3.5km gravity main pipeline to Quarry Reservoir; extension of Quarry Reservoir to 30ML capacity as well as the construction of a Green Star Administration Building.
The Lower uMkhomazi Water Scheme project is part of the uMkhomazi Water Project which consists of the construction of a 81m high dam at Smithfield on the uMkhomazi River (with gross storage capacity of 251 million m3), a 33km (3.5m diameter) tunnel from Smithfield Dam to the uMlaza River Valley, and a 5.1km (2.6m diameter) gravity bulk pipeline connecting the tunnel to the Baynesfield Water Treatment Works (WTW).
This part of the project will be funded and implemented by the Trans Caledon Water Authority (TCTA). The uMkhomazi Water Project will result in a 55% increase in the amount of available water in the Umngeni Water Supply System.
There will also be a balancing dam and a water treatment works in the uMlaza River with a gravity pipeline to the Umngeni Water Supply System which supplies water to more than six million people in six districts – eThekwini, Msunduzi, uMgungundlovu, Ugu, Ilembe and Harry Gwala and industries in the province.
As per the Department of Water and Sanitation, the Umgeni Water Supply System has experienced a water deficit from as far back as 2016, but its augmentation from the uMkhomazi Water Catchment is expected to increase fresh water supply from 394 million cubic metres a year to 608 million cubic metres a year.
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