THE ongoing water interruptions and problems with water pressure that some uMhlanga residents have become accustomed to for nearly a year are due to the Umhlanga 2 reservoir facing challenges in building its capacity, according to Ward 35 councillor, Bradley Singh.

Also read: Copper pipe thief arrested in Durban North

“I am inundated with complaints about low pressure and having no water supply at all from uMhlanga residents. The issue is that the reservoir is only able to reach a capacity of just over a meter as the demand greatly surpasses the supply,” he said.

Residents are at their wits’ end as many don’t have tanks on their property and live in apartment blocks where space is limited and they are unable to store bottles of water.

Nathan Nadesan is one of these residents who lives alone on his property but due to his health, finds it difficult to lift bottles of water to fill into the toilet or bath.

“Last week, we had no water for three days which made it extremely difficult for me. I sustained three fractures to my body and I live alone so lifting heavy buckets and bottles of water is a danger to my health. Some days we experience a reduction in pressure, other days there is no water at all. It makes it very difficult to plan your day as you don’t know what you will wake up to,” he said.

In addition to the reservoir not filling, Singh added that the department had not addressed many leaks, which further complicated the situation.

“Unfortunately, senior management in eThekwini is currently unresponsive regarding the absence of plumbers to repair the leaks and assist the reservoirs in increasing storage capacity. Umhlanga 2 is also supplying two other reservoirs, Umhlanga north and south. This results in pressure issues for residents on the Ridge, who receive water through the trunk main. Many of them are currently facing either no water or low pressure. I have reached out to the department for a response, as shown in the screenshot, but there has been complete silence,” he added.

Spokesperson for eThekwini Municipality, Gugu Sisilana, said the inlet actuated valve experienced a failure which had unfortunately locked in the closed position.

“This has restricted water inflow into the reservoir and led to outages. Since Umhlanga Reservoir 2 serves as the primary supply for both uMhlanga North and uMhlanga South reservoirs, these dependent reservoirs were also impacted,” she said.

She added that the water curtailment programme implemented by uMngeni-uThukela Water in October last year remains in effect, requiring the City to reduce water demand by 8.4% in accordance with the licensed volumes from the Umgeni catchment system.

“Given that water demand rises by nearly 50% during the summer months (November through February), a water deficit persists in many areas of the City. This water deficit is further intensified by issues such as water abuse, theft, and infrastructure vandalism,” she added.

The water department is utilising internal plumbers and is limited in the number of external contractors it can hire, primarily because a significant number of citizens are not paying for the water supplied. Hence a lot of water is being lost by the City because of theft and vandalism of infrastructure. This impacts the water department’s available operating budget.

“However, the adopted turnaround strategy, supported by National Treasury, is aimed at addressing these gaps. Like any business entity, the City’s performance depends on the payment for services rendered,” said Sisilana.

For more from Northglen News, follow us on Facebook, X or Instagram. You can also check out our videos on our YouTube channel or follow us on TikTok.

Click to subscribe to our newsletter – here