It is nothing new to read comments like this on Facebook, ‘Seekoeiwater water has now been restored. Ext 10 and Tasbet Park there are two separate burst pipes affecting the water supply unfortunately no time estimate as of yet.’
Emalahleni Local Municipality has their hands full responding to complaints of water interruptions and residents are fed up with dry taps.
“The current availability of water in the whole of the Emalahleni municipal area is under severe pressure. We have an estimated 30% shortfall. The purification capacity and availability of the bulk sources are not sufficient to serve everyone fully everyday,” the Municipal Manager, Mr Theo van Vuuren put the facts on the table.
He said under normal operational conditions the municipality can provide everyone with sufficient water, however there are glitches like power failures, pipe bursts, problems at the purification plants, the reclamation plant managed by Anglo Coal and that impacts on the supply of water.
Van Vuuren started with Ogies and explained that this little town receives water pumped from Point B reservoir in eMalahleni, along a 50km pipeline which also serves the western areas of Emalahleni, to the reservoir at Phola. From there it serves the reservoir in Ogies and eventually ends up serving Clewer.
This pipeline has its fair deal of challenges. There is system losses typically associated with long distance pipelines. The total demand from point B reservoir as main source is high and needs augmentation. At this stage this point is dependant on supply from Anglo Coal’s reclamation plant. This plant provides water for only a part of the day, explaining fluctuations in the supply. Power disruptions affect the purification capacity serving point B reservoir as well as pumping capacity between plants and reservoirs.
“There is also a time factor which causes problems. If water is disrupted, it has an accumulative impact on recovery times. Following any interruption it can take up to 18 hours for the system to be fully pressurised and operational and any further problem during that period will push this period out even further,” Van Vuuren explained.
Local issues impacting supply to Ogies further more complicate supply on a constant basis.
The reservoir at Phola serves as the receiving point for water coming from eMalahleni. Water levels at this reservoir must reach a certain level before water can be released to Ogies. The reservoir is under pressure because of high demand of water. The high demand is increasing daily because of the rapid growth in local communities and adjacent mines.
Any problem on the system which reduces inflow to the reservoir, impacts then on the level and capacity and can and do often delay the release of water to Ogies.
“In addition to the above Wilge is currently served from Kendal and we have already received notice that alternative supply will have to be found. The current line from Kendal is on land to be mined. The alternatives will be to link Wilge to the Phola reservoir. This at this stage has cost implications and can not be accommodated given the above explained capacity issues,” Van Vuuren said,
But the good news is that there is a plan on the same table next to the problems Van Vuuren highlighted.
Van Vuuren is renowned for his short-, medium- and long term plans.
His short term plan is to improve reliability.
“The Rand Water programme to improve the pipelines, reduce pipe bursts and placing back up generators at critical points, are already assisting and will do so increasingly going forward. In this the replacement of problematic pipes and repair of leaks are key priorities,” he put the first drops in the bucket.
He said in this respect there are specific problem areas where they also have huge problems of consistency in supply such as to Die Heuwel, Seekoeiwater, Blancheville and Klarinet. This is caused by old pipes which are chronically bursting and which need to be replaced. This replacement programme is dependant on budget availability.
To boost the capacity available to serve Phola, Ogies and Clewer, a package plant will be erected at point B and will provide an additional 20ML per day.
“This project has been severely delayed because of legal matters. Progress is now made and from February we should see a ramping up of supply from this point which will provide immediate relieve to the affected areas, also to benefit KwaGuqa, Empumuluweni and parts of Hlalanikahle and importantly Tasbet extensions.”
In the medium- to long term Van Vuuren said the total water needs of Emalahleni must also be considered, especially the current under supply
