Tongaat residents can expect erratic water supply at least until winter, with a long-term solution at least two years away.

Residents have endured repeated water outages since October last year, with water often only available for a few hours a day. Parts of the town have gone as long as seven days without water.

Residents say they have had to endure this without any communication from the municipality or water tankers being sent to them.

This ongoing crisis has left many frustrated and demanding answers. The problem is not a new one for Tongaat residents, who this time last year were protesting water outages in the town’s southern areas, and for whom water outages have been a constant headache since the 2022 floods. However, the situation got worse from November last year and in other areas since January this year.

eThekwini Metro spokesperson Gugu Sisilana blamed the current erratic supply on the summer heatwave.

“The water supply demand in all areas served by the Tongaat Water Works remains inconsistent due to high summer demand exacerbated by the heat wave, which is exceeding the plant’s capacity,” she said.

Whether this is solely due to increased demand, or whether reduced water availability or technical limitations at the plant are exacerbating the problem remains unclear. It is also unclear what steps are being taken to resolve the crisis.

Sisilana said tankers were being prioritised for areas without water. Those with intermittent supply must rely on scheduled water access because there is a high demand for water tankers across the metro.

The population growth has also surpassed the bulk supply capacity of both the City and uMngeni-uThukela Water’s supply sources. The city has planned two major projects to address this problem.

“The first project is the functional upgrade of the Tongaat Water Works, and the second involves upgrading four rising mains supplying Tongaat reservoirs. The anticipated completion date for these projects is December 2027,” said Sisilana.

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