Following ongoing water supply disruptions in eThekwini, in KwaZulu-Natal, Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina and Deputy Minister David Mahlobo convened an urgent meeting with eThekwini municipality mayor Cyril Xaba and others to discuss the causes and the way forward.

This meeting – held a month before Water Week which will be commemorated between March 20 and 26 – concluded that the root cause of the supply disruptions is that the demand for treated water has exceeded available supply.

Demand in eThekwini has grown rapidly, largely because of population growth and partly owing to leaks in the municipality’s water distribution systems.

This results in a situation where the city’s reservoirs become depleted, because water is being drawn faster than the reservoir can be filled.

This scenario particularly affects supply to high-lying areas and areas located a considerable distance from the reservoirs, as insufficient water pressure, caused by low water levels, exponentially affects those areas.

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and the municipality agreed that this has been the main cause of supply disruptions in Chatsworth, Umlazi and surrounding areas in the south, as well as Verulam, Tongaat and Ntuzuma in the north.

To ensure a continuous supply of water to users, even in times of drought, the DWS sets a limit on the amount of raw water that the uMngeni-uThukela Water Board (UUW) can abstract from the uMngeni Water Supply System (uMWS) for eThekwini consumers.

Dam storage levels can fall rapidly when there is a drought, and it would be irresponsible to raise the abstraction limit, even if the dams are full.

Nonetheless, the UUW has been exceeding the abstraction limit imposed by DWS and, consequently, the department instructed UUW to curtail its abstraction in October 2024.

During the December holiday period, when demand for water peaked in eThekwini, the DWS temporarily lifted this curtailment directive, but it was reinstated in mid-January.

A variety of projects are under way to augment the amount of water in the uMWS. The raising of the Hazelmere dam wall was completed in 2023 at a cost of R820-million and has doubled the amount of water that can be stored in the dam.

UUW has also completed a project to increase the capacity of the Hazelmere Water Treatment Works from 55-million litres a day to 75-million litres a day, at a cost of R135-million.

The capacity of the treatment works will be further increased to 90-million litres a day within the next three years, at a cost of R25-million.

Additionally, the UUW is currently constructing a dam and a 100-million-litre treatment plant on the Lower uMkhomazi river.

Meanwhile, the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) is at an advanced stage of raising R28-billion for the construction of a large new dam and transfer tunnel on the upper uMkhomazi river, which is part of the uMkhomazi water project.

UUW is in the process of procuring additional treatment capacity so that it will be able to treat and supply more water to eThekwini once the uMkhomazi water project is completed.

The eThekwini municipality is also working on its own measures to increase the supply of water. The city is in the process of procuring two additional water re-use plants that will treat secondary effluent to produce potable water that meets the required water quality standards.

The city council approved a water and sanitation turnaround strategy in April 2023, which is now being implemented. The strategy includes ringfencing revenue from the sale of water for the water function, reduction of non-revenue water (NRW), improving leak repair and removing illegal connections.

The backlog of water leaks that required repair has been significantly reduced. The city is in the procurement stage of a public- private partnership to mobilise private- sector funding and expertise to reduce NRW.

It is also issuing several city-funded contracts for NRW reduction.

Moreover, the city is also installing pressure management valves to reduce the water pressure in the water distribution system, which reduces the frequency of pipe bursts and extends the useful life of infrastructure.

These valves also reduce the amount of water lost through leaks in the system.

A programme to replace old leaking water distribution pipes is also being implemented.

The department and the city also agreed that the city would consider the implementation of formal water-use restrictions through by-laws.

Further, given the recent rainfall and improvement in dam levels in the uMWS, DWS will again temporarily lift the curtailment, with effective as of February 23, 2025, until April 23, 2025.

Weekly technical coordination meetings between the City, UUW and DWS will continue, with weekly meetings between the mayor, the Minister and the UUW chairperson to review progress on these measures.

This work will be coordinated with the fortnightly meetings of the water and sanitation workstream meetings of the Presidential eThekwini Working Group.

Lastly, the city and UUW will improve their communication regarding water supply disruptions to residents, including the causes of the disruptions and what is being done.

The public is encouraged to play its part with all water users in the municipality encouraged to use water sparingly to reduce the average consumption of water per capita per day.