Ongoing water woes in Athlone Park and Illovo beach

The ongoing water woes in Athlone Park and Illovo Beach have caused quite an uproar from residents who are often faced with frequent, prolonged water outages. They believe that a permanent solution to the problem is overdue.

“In most instances, in Athlone Park, the water issues are caused by burst pipes in the area. The water goes out at 4am and we’re lucky if it is restored by 4pm the same day,” said civic activist, Zahid Jadwat.  “During the holiday season, when I assume pressure on the pipes is higher due to increased demand, these water outages are most likely to be as long as 24 hours, if not longer. Especially during peak season, these outages occur as frequently as twice – sometimes even thrice – a week.” The most recent outage left residents without water for two days.  This seems to be an ongoing challenge in the greater Amanzimtoti area. The city’s ageing infrastructure is a significant factor. Instead of upgrading the pipeline infrastructure, eThekwini Municipality conducts a patch-and-go approach to this. They wait for a pipe to burst and then fix it rather than having the infrastructure upgraded.  Of course, the issue here is low or depleted funds, but I believe it is not fair for residents to go without water for hours on end due to the evil actions of a few selfish individuals who help themselves to public funds.”

Meanwhile, Illovo Beach resident, Ruth Majola, who has lived in the area for the past four years, said since August last year, 10 water outages were noted in the community.

“This has been on-going for years even before I moved to the area. When there are water outages, we are not supplied with water tankers and we are forced to buy containers of water just to survive.”

Ward 97 councillor, André Beetge, explained that the water woes are a result of eThekwini Municipality’s financial issues.

“eThekwini Municipality is heading towards serious financial problems, the effect of which can already be felt in the level of service delivery that’s been predominant for several months and from which it will take several years to recover.  The continued water outages to areas such as Illovo Beach and Athlone Park, often associated with electricity thus making it impossible for pumps to deliver the desired water supply, as opposed to failed or damaged water infrastructure.  Personnel are so thinly spread and demands are so much on the increase, that reaction times are getting extended with very little after-hours resource availability. This not being exclusive to the south, but indeed applicable across the entire city.”

ALSO READ: Water disruptions have an enormous impact during pandemic [LETTER]

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