AMID eThekwini’s ongoing water crisis, the municipality has blamed “rapidly deteriorating infrastructure” as the main cause for water loss and multibillion rand in revenue which is crippling the city, with a number of residents going weeks without water in their home.

The leaks within eThekwini’s water system recently led to curtailment measures being implemented following meetings with Department of Water and Sanitation and the uMngeni-uThukela Water Board (UUWB) that indicated a high demand for water supply for the city. On Tuesday following an executive committee meeting (Exco), eThekwini mayor Cyril Xaba said he had observed “sharp contradictions” in reported water loss between the period 2017 and 2023.

He said, “Our consumer sales volumes have been decreasing even when there has been an increase in both service connections and system input volume to our water supply systems.” In the last two years the water utility lost R4,03 billion in sales, accounting for 468 010 665 kilolitres per annum (1282 mega litres per day).

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“Cash collections in eThekwini Municipality for water services declined from 97% in 2017/18 to 67% in 2022/23. This coincided with the sharp increase of non-revenue water from 30% in 2017 to above 50% in 2022, signalling a rapid deterioration of our system. This explains that there are serious leakages in our system, debunking a false narrative that there is an increase in water demand. Our scientists must guide us correctly,” said Xaba.

From the north to the south of Durban, residents have been living with water restrictions which came into effect in October 2024 and were meant to last for 12 month. This was to help reduce the amount of water consumption in eThekwini and to meet UUWB supply which is regulated by a Bulk Supply Agreement signed in 2005, expiring in March 2025.

“The 2005 Agreement did not anticipate the current challenges,” said Xaba.  “Yes, we must apply stricter water conservation and water demand management measures to dampen the uptake, but we need to rapidly step up our measures to combat pure water losses. Water losses directly affect the financial viability and sustainability of the service.  Water losses have proved to have a debilitating effect on the City’s ability to generate income and operate a viable water service. Therefore, the City must ramp up its own plans to address the challenges of non-revenue water as a matter of urgency.  Let us divert our energies away from analysing the causes to rooting out the problem. Our people need water,” said Xaba.

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