Hazelmere pipeline underway

Construction of the uTongathi-Hazelmere emergency pipeline is about five weeks behind schedule.

Work on the 7.5 kilometre emergency pipeline intended to transfer eight to 12 million litres of water a day from the uTongathi River into Hazelmere Dam was meant to start on February 9 and be finished this week but Umgeni Water had to review the completion date due to “unforeseen delays”.

“Umgeni Water has had to set a new target date for completion (May 3, 2015) due to internal processes and negotiations with external parties that were involved in the project. Construction could not begin until these negotiations, some of which were contract related, were completed. However, Umgeni Water will be pleased if work on the project is completed before the new target date,” said Umgeni Water corporate stakeholder manager, Shami Harichunder.

He said work was progressing well on the emergency scheme.

“Construction of the pipeline has already begun and to date 50 percent of the site bush clearing has been completed, trenching has reached a stage of 20% completion and the required road and river crossings for the pipeline are currently being worked on,” said Harichunder.

He said so far 1.5 kilometres of the 7.5 kilometer long pipeline has been put in the ground, leaving another six kilometres to be completed before May 3.

Umgeni Water will pump water from the uTongathi River for up to six months until there is sufficient rainfall to raise the Hazelmere Dam to 70 percent.

This emergency scheme will have to supply water to Hazelmere Dam, the Tongaat Hulett sugar mill and the Tongaat water treatment plant.

It will, however, only be used while there is enough water to meet this demand.

The pumps will be switched off if there is not enough water in the uTongathi River.

“The level of the uTongathi River, like other rivers, generally drops in the winter months and in view of this situation, it is expected that the scheme will not operate right the way through winter,” said Harichunder.

People have questioned whether there was enough water in the uTongathi River to sustain the scheme as envisioned.

University of KZN based river expert, Dr Gordon O’Brien said he could not comment without doing an analysis and said Umgeni Water should itself know if there was enough water in the uTongathi River.

The Hazelmere Dam level has again been consistently falling since February because of below average rainfall and is currently at 45 percent.

Harichunder said the dam holds enough water to last until mid-September but once implemented, the emergency scheme will extend the water supply by two months.

“It must be remembered that water demand on the Hazelmere water works must be kept low and that a saving of 30 percent is still required,” said Harichunder.

He cautioned that the emergency scheme was not the ultimate answer to the current water shortages and said only good rainfall would make a significant difference to the level of the Hazelmere Dam.

Harichunder said the emergency scheme will in future be used even after the first rains of spring and summer months to mitigate the effects of the current drought if it continues into the new rainfall season.

He said the North Coast water flow will be further supplemented by the Lower Thukela Bulk Water Supply Scheme (LTBWS) if the drought continues well into 2016.

The LTBWS is under construction in the Thukela River near Mandeni, and is expected to be operational by the first half of 2016.