DA condemns city’s approach to water crisis
The DA has said the City's has a 'head in the sand' approach to the water crisis in eThekwini.
IN an effort to contain the effects of the drought on dwindling water supplies which has seen some local eThekwini reservoirs dry up, the Municipality has implemented stage three restrictions which includes water cuts across various areas of the metro.
The city’s actions have been met with fierce opposition from DA spokesperon on Human Settlements and Infrastructure, councillor Martin Meyer, who said the city was approaching the problem the wrong way. Meyer expressed his grave concerns that the city had opted to address the growing water shortage problems by expanding its already failed water cut offs, adding that the Water Department had itself admitted that this approach was a massive failure as it had a minimal effect on reservoir levels, while the resulting burst pipes lead to an increase in water losses..
What compounded the problem, according to Meyer, was the fact that the city was not consistent in its approach, as the water did not always go off at the advertised time and it appeared some areas in the city were targeted more than others.
The water crisis
Meyer’s response comes after eThekwini Municipality announced last week that it had reinstated Stage 3 water restrictions. This, after the Albert Falls Dam had dropped to 26.1 per cent and some local reservoirs ran dry.
In a media statement released on Saturday, the municipality said it had requested a relaxation of the restrictions during the festive season to cater for the increased demand by holidaymakers to the city. However, the demand had exceeded the supply during this time, causing a strain on the water network system.
The 15 per cent curtailment was reinstated on Monday, 16 January. The net effect resulted in Mt Moriah Reservoir running dry after feeding 16 reservoirs downstream of it. These reservoirs feed water to areas of Pinetown, Pinetown South, New Germany, Westville and their surrounds.
According to the municipality, the question of rolling out restrictions evenly in the systems is not practical as one system may achieve savings and the other may not, forcing Umgeni Water to reduce the water supply as instructed by the Department of Water and Sanitation in the gazette.
There are indications that the Department of Water and Sanitation is looking into increasing the restrictions from 15 per cent, which is not being achieved, to 20 per cent as the dam levels are still low and consumer demand has not been reduced. This has necessitated the implementation of stage 3 restrictions.
Alternative plans
Councillor Meyer said the DA had an alternative method to address the drought situation which it would announce to the public in due course.
“EThekwini’s plan is to keep doing the same thing, the very plan that created the now increased problem, and fails to explore alternatives,” he said.
He said there were innovative ways to harvest the ample rain falling within the city that could adequately supplement the water supply from the struggling dams.
“The DA is also calling on the city to urgently produce a plan to deal with the water challenge in the Inner-West area of the city serviced by the Mt Moriah reservoir. Residents have been without water for days at a time and the city has so far failed to produce a plan to deal with this problem,” he said.
The Municipality has issued a warning to residents to refrain from using sprinklers, hosepipes, filling their swimming pools and washing vehicles using hosepipes during drought conditions. It has vowed to deal with illegal connections, high consumption and illegal car washes. Penalties will be imposed on those who do not adhere to the restriction rules imposed.
To view the table explaining the different restrictions, click on the link: https://www.durban.gov.za/Resource_Centre/new2/Documents/infotable.pdf
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