Nonoti River leaves Nyathikazi high and dry

Residents of Nyathikazi outside Darnall are afraid that since the Nonoti River has dried up they will soon be without water.

The community relies on stand pipes to provide water but these are proving unreliable.

From January 1 until January 5 they were without water and municipal water tankers apparently failed to arrive.

They maintain that they contacted the Ilembe district municipality several times during that time but did not get a positive response.

“They did absolutely nothing about our issue. No one from the municipality came to us to explain why we had no water,” said a resident who wished to remain anonymous.

When there is no water in the area, they have in the past relied on the Nonoti River.

According to resident Widas Mthombeni the situation is serious. “With the river not running, we do not know what we will do if the standpipes dry up again,” he said.

Mthombeni said they understand that there is a drought problem in the Ilembe region, however they should at least receive notice of when there will be no water.

Another resident Hlengiwe Nyaba said that they usually have water at night but it is often cut off at 5am.

Ilembe municipality responded with a statement confirming that the municipality had been aware of the problem and that they had been sending water tankers to the area.

“The water supply to Nyathikazi is very intermittent. The area is dependent on the Eskom power supply.

The power supply in the San Souci treatment works has been very erratic of late, resulting in us not being able to pump water continuously to the Sakhamkhanya reservoirs, which ultimately feed the Nyathikazi areas,” said the statement.

However residents said the water tankers come only on request.

“If you call the municipality to fill up your jojo tank, they will come but what about the people who do not have tanks?” said Nyaba.