AS the water crisis in the municipality worsens and the city implements restrictions or curtailment of water, the eThekwini Ratepayers Movement (ERPM) is calling residents to support their protest march this weekend.

Last Friday, DA members joined their leadership and community members in putting pressure on the eThekwini Municipality to find a permanent solution to the ongoing water crisis.

On Saturday, March 1, the ERPM will assemble at Curries Fountain to raise their concerns about the water issues.

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Westville resident and member of the ERPM, Rose Cortes, said the event is a solidarity campaign whereby a memorandum of demands will be handed to the mayor and city manager.

“The water crisis in our metro has infringed on the rights of our citizens for too long and we strongly believe that it’s time for ratepayers to stand up and demand that services are provided to every single person living in eThekwini.”

While the water crisis has affected many ratepaying communities, the movement said they recognise that for far longer it has plagued the marginalised communities.

“Ratepayers’ contribution to city coffers are meant to redress the imbalance by way of cross-subsidy, but we haven’t seen that put to purpose and we are rising, not just for our formal homes, but for the marginalised whose rights to clean water need to be honoured.”

In an open letter to the City leadership, the movement said among other things that they will campaign for active withholding of every cent meant for city coffers until their demands are met.

Urgent meeting held to address water crisis

On Sunday, the issue of the ongoing water supply disruptions in eThekwini Municipality led to an urgent meeting being called by Minister of Water and Sanitation, Pemmy Majodina, and Deputy Minister David Mahlobo, with representatives from eThekwini and uMngeni-uThukela Water (UUW).

In a joint statement, the City and water board said the root cause of the water supply disruptions is because the demand for treated water in eThekwini exceeds the available supply. “Demand for water in eThekwini has grown rapidly, largely due to population growth, and partly due 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 out of them faster than the reservoirs can be filled. This particularly affects water supply to high-lying areas and areas far from the reservoirs, because the water levels in the reservoirs drop to a level where they are insufficient to provide the pressure required to get water to the high-lying and far-away areas.

“This has been the main cause of water supply disruptions in Chatsworth, Umlazi and surrounding areas in the South, as well as Verulam, Tongaat and Ntuzuma in the North,” said the City.

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In addition, UUW had to shut down one of its pipelines last month to allow for the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) to upgrade the N3 highway.

This affected water supply to Hillcrest and other areas outer west of the city. This work is almost complete, and the pipeline is expected to come back into operation on Thursday, February 27.

To ensure a continuous supply of water to users even in times of drought, Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) sets a limit on the amount of raw water that uMngeni-uThukela Water can abstract from the uMngeni Water Supply System (uMWS) for eThekwini to supply its consumers. Dam storage levels can fall rapidly when there is a drought, and it would therefore be irresponsible to raise the abstraction limit when the dams are full.

At the meeting, the public was encouraged to play their part in reducing the risk of water supply disruptions.

“All water users in the municipality are encouraged to use water sparingly to reduce the average consumption of water per capita per day. The 2023 DWS No Drop audit (which was released by DWS in December 2023) found this to be 298 liters/capita/day, compared to the international average of 173 l/c/d,” read the statement.

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