THE City of uMhlathuze’s water bill has been hard hit by the drought…and some of the extra cost will inevitably be borne by householders and other users.
The matter came under discussion Friday during the first Exco sitting of the year, where the focus was on the Mid-year Budget Review.
Councillors noted that the budget for water had been exceeded by 61%.
This was attributed to the drastic low levels of Lake Mzingazi, which meant that the City could no longer abstract water from the lake but was forced to purchase in bulk from Mhlathuze Water.
‘Bulk water is going to be an increasing cost as Lake Cubhu at eSikhaleni is also dry and the drought is worsening,’ said Tumelo Gopane, Deputy Municipal Manager: Infrastructure & Technical Services.
‘However, since we are no longer abstracting from Lake Mzingazi we would have saved those costs, so the nett affect will be below the 61%.
‘We still need to calculate the cost of abstracting to see whether it is in fact cheaper than buying water in bulk.
‘In any case, some of the costs will have to be passed on to users.’
City Senior Manager: Financial Services – Mxolisi Kunene warned that ‘we have a drought!’ and will have to spend more on water.
‘The worry is that the surcharge tariff to cover the drought will be imposed on 1 February by the Department of Water and Sanitation, as was reported in the Zululand Observer this week.’
