A new water testing system will give Siza Water instant results, a full 24 hours faster than current testing time.

The new ‘Proteus’ testing unit is expected to arrive in the next few weeks and will revolutionise the local water testing capability.

This was revealed by Siza Water operations manager, Kobus Fourie, at the KwaDukuza mayoral imbizo at Umhlali Prep last Thursday.

“It is going to make a huge difference for us to have this new unit,” said Fourie.

“We have previously had to wait for results, which means there could be a case where the water is absolutely safe, but a beach has had to stay closed for precaution.”

He said Siza Water had been having some trouble this year in terms of sewer leaks, largely caused by fat and oil build-ups.

The biggest other operational issue that Siza has dealt with this year has been infiltration into the system.

Infiltration happens when run-off designed to be dealt with by the stormwater system, such as from an outside shower, gutter or pool, is instead fed into the sewer system which cannot handle it. This leads to a build-up of sand, which then places extra stress on the system and causes infrastructure failure.

“We have removed around 50 tonnes of sand this year alone,” he said.

“Our pump stations are already being pushed above their standard capacity as a result of sand and heavy rains leading to overflow.”

He said Siza had experienced water losses of around 15% over the past year, above the company’s operating level of 10%.

By the numbers, Siza received more than 8 500 complaints from January to October this year, which when combined with planned maintenance, reached over 13 500 individual job responses for the period.

Residents present at the imbizo praised Siza for swift action when needed, as did newly elected KwaDukuza mayor, Ali Ngidi, who was previously the ward councillor for Nkobongo in Siza’s concession area.

“As the mayor of KwaDukuza, we are firm that we need to extend the services of Siza Water,” said Ngidi.

“We are happy with the services we are getting and want to see more communities connected.”

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