Mtuba water crisis gets priority

WATER shortages in and around Mtubatuba will be a thing of the past.

This, after COGTA (Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs) officials were placed under pressure by KZN Premier Senzo Mchunu to fix the failing system, failing which ‘heads will roll’.

Following Mchunu’s emergency meeting at Mtubatuba Municipality, action plans were put in place to rectify the situation immediately.

According to COGTA’s Deputy Director General of Development and Planning, Mthokozisi Duze, tensions around Mtubatuba’s water situation had become racial, which required immediate provincial intervention.

At Mtubatuba Waterworks, two duty pumps and one standby should always be in working condition.

In recent weeks, however, none were.

Two new pumps have now been bought and a third sent for refurbishing.

In the interim, one borrowed and two hired pumps have been installed.

From a system that had been relying on 4.3 mega litres per day from four boreholes, the new pumps are now producing 13.3 mega litres daily.

By Tuesday last week, KwaMsane and Mtubatuba had water and St Lucia’s reservoir was full.

There is still much work to be done and action plans for the numerous challenges have been put in place.

‘We are not here to brag and say our jobs are done but there is light at the end of the tunnel,’ said Duze at Wednesday’s report-back meeting.

A company has been appointed to tend to the leaks and illegal connections across the district, and to fit water meters.

Seven of the 13 Mfolozi riverbed wells will be commissioned by 3 June while the remaining six will be completed by the end of June.

In the interim, to ensure water is available to everyone, it will be switched off between 9pm and 5am so KwaMsane’s reservoirs can be filled.

Duze urged residents to report all leaks, so they can be repaired timeously.