Frustrations are mounting after uMngeni-uThukela Water announced an 18-hour shutdown of the Durban Heights Water Treatment Works, which is expected to commence on Tuesday, 21 November, until 8pm on the same day.
This after Phoenix residents and many others in the north of Durban were left without water or tankers for over a week. EThekwini Municipality’s spokesperson, Gugu Sisilana, said the recent water outage throughout the north of Durban was caused by a power failure which affected the Durban Heights Treatment Works.
“This resulted in reduced volumes to the Northern Aqueduct. A total shutdown will be undertaken on Tuesday, 21 November, upon completion this will ensure sufficient volumes to Durban Heights and eliminate reliance on power supply. It will take approximately seven days after this shutdown, for the system to fully recover,” said Sisilana.
Ravin Oodith of Highfern Road, in Redfern said Phoenix and surrounding areas have been facing an acute shortage of water for the past few months. “Every member of the society is disturbed on the account of unavailability of water supply which is a basic need of every human being. This causes a negative impact on scholars and workers that need to prepare for the day, how do we maintain proper sanitation? Numerous complaints and faults have been logged with the relevant departments via residents as well as our ward councillors but no remedy has been put in place by the municipality so far and suddenly we are faced with water shutdowns without any advanced notice. It is absolutely concerning as to why reservoir levels are being neglected. Surely there should be designated systems and people who monitor them and provide advanced alerts should anything unusual be sighted,” said Oodith.
The frustrated ratepayer said that residents have reached boiling point over the ongoing crisis of dry taps.
“We as residents pay exorbitant amounts for water and its utterly disturbing to find that we are getting absolutely poor service delivery from the municipality. Where does all our rates and taxes go? Clearly the infrastructure is being neglected instead of being maintained and upgraded. Residents demand the immediate action of the relevant department officials in this matter,” said the irate resident.
Noshad Abdool Rahiman said that members of the community have been pushed to their limits for far too long with the daily water cuts. “I personally see WhatsApp messages claiming to be from municipality personnel giving the same reasons over and over again which is unprofessional and makes one wonder how does the same issue keep happening? What is the municipality lacking that causes this issue to be going on for this long? Why are the affected communities not being sent official documents on a weekly basis to keep us updated on what has been fixed, what is currently being done and what plans are there in place to resolve this issue that has been ongoing for this long. The individuals responsible for this lack of service delivery of a basic human right – that we pay for – need to come to the communities and see the many faces of community members whose lives are disrupted daily and maybe by seeing this it will give them enough motivation to resolve this issue,” said Rahiman.
“Some communications make it seem like this is a recent issue although it’s been happening for many years which angers the community even more. We do not even get water tankers delivering water to us when the water gets turned off. The last communication stated that by the end of July 2023 we should see improvement, yet three months have passed with no update and water issues are at best the same if not worse,” added Rahiman.
His sentiments were shared by Stanmore resident, Wendy Hariparsad, who said: “We want answers and are tired of getting the same repeated responses from councillors when we are asking valid questions. The water issue has gone from bad to worse and it seems not even the councillors are treating it seriously which is a slap in the face for the residents who elected them, to represent them, in situations like these. We have not had water for over a week – how are we expected to go on without water, an essential service and basic human right for over a week without a single water tanker in sight. Our frustration has reached breaking point, people are unable to go to work, the water is not even coming on for a short while to fill our containers, there’s matric exams currently taking place – how are these learners expected to cope with everything that’s happening around them. We have no more clean clothes left as no washing is being done. We are tired of sucking it up and pretending that all is well, we want answers and transparency between the councillors, municipality and the ratepayers who have been neglected for the longest time yet are still expected to pay for utility services every month.”
The leader of the Democratic Liberal Congress (DLC) Patrick Pillay said that the recent water outage is making life for many families very uncomfortable and inconveniencing them in their work, religious, cultural and social activities. “Our community pay rates and deserve better service delivery from the City and all elected representatives. Members of the community want action from the elected councillors, in addressing these matters and not adverts, voice notes and words of comfort on social media. The irony is that the tankers that are deployed do not service all the affected roads and the old, frail and sickly either have to walk a long distance to fetch the water or have to live without it.”
He said: “It is really concerning when the community without notice is left without water in the mornings and for the better part of the day due to mechanical or technical matters. Some areas have been left without water for days without any tankers services. The tankers deployed to areas are not coordinated systematically. Last week, I received numerous calls for help from residents in Brookdale who did not have water for days. I pursued this matter with very senior officials of the city and was provided a tanker for the people of Brookdale and surrounding areas. Despite there being another tanker in the ward, no one could find it. Tankers cannot be directed to selected places only, it should be going into all the affected roads.”
DA eThekwini executive committee (exco) member, Councillor Yogis Govender said: “It has become common knowledge that thousands of households are affected as a result of eThekwini’s failure to efficiently operate the Durban Heights system, leading to Phoenix, Verulam and uMhlanga reservoirs being off-line for a number of days. A more concerning and widely known fact, which the city has also admitted to, is that around 55% of water supply is lost through leaks, power outages and poor infrastructure – meaning more than half of the water that residents pay for does not reach them.”
Cllr Govender called for accountability on the matter. “There also appears to be conflicting information from bulk water supplier uMngeni-uThukela and that supplied by eThekwini officials who is to blame for the persisting water outages. Contractually, as we have been reliably informed, eThekwini should be receiving about 300 megaliters of water from the water board. However, the city is only getting a third of this. This has severely impacted thousands of households as the output from Durban Heights is wholly insufficient to fill reservoirs at the tail end, namely Phoenix Reservoir 2 and 4, Mountview and Trenance Park. The DA cannot stand by and watch as the situation deteriorates, and as such, we will tackle the issues on three fronts: at a local level, city level and provincial level to get answers that our residents deserve,” added Govender.
UMngeni-uThukela Water stated that the Durban Heights Water Treatment Works will undergo a critical shutdown ahead of the festive season. “This is to allow for the removal of a steel plate that was previously installed on Aqueduct 2 to isolate the flow of water while repairs were in progress. The shutdown will also include the installation of a double isolation facility to enable the contractor undertaking the repairs to continue working on the Aqueduct in preparation for its recommissioning in December this year. By undertaking this maintenance shutdown now, uMngeni-uThukela aims to minimise the possibility of bulk water interruptions ahead of the start of the busy festive season,” uMgeni-uThukela said in a statement.
The statement further read: “This exercise forms part of uMngeni-uThukela’s efforts to repair and restore infrastructure that was damaged during the floods in April 2022. uMngeni-uThukela Water is working closely with the eThekwini Municipality’s Water and Sanitation Department to minimise the impacts of the shutdown. Both organisations will constantly monitor water levels at reservoirs during the shutdown so that they do not dip below the set points.”
Some of the areas in Phoenix supplied from the Durban Heights Water Treatment Works, that will experience some disruptions or low water pressure on Tuesday, 21 November 2023 include Bishop Gate Road, Pillar Gate Place, Landsgate Place, Risegate place, Restgate Road while the areas that will be affected in Phoenix 2 Reservoir zone are Sunford, Hannaford, Phoenix Highway, Longcroft, Longbury, Plaza, Southbury, Eastbury, Grove End, Shastripark, Caneside, Vanehaven and Woodview.
