THE eThekwini Municipality has failed to meet its own deadline to restore water supply to several areas north of Durban.

Several reservoirs supplying Durban North and uMhlanga remain at critical levels, leaving thousands of residents without water.

At the beginning of this month, senior officials from the municipality, alongside the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, met with affected residents and undertook to resolve the water challenges by this Thursday (February 15).

However, that deadline has now been moved to February 21.

Also read: North Durban water crisis continues

According to City manager Musa Mbhele, to improve the performance of the old Northern Aqueduct, the City has had to replace 54 defective air valves.

“These interventions are being carried out on four sections of the aqueduct. On the third section from Newlands to Phoenix, 31 air valves have been replaced and six are outstanding. The outstanding valves require modification to fit the new valves into the network which also requires a shutdown.

“This modification work was not foreseen when the work was planned to be completed by February 15. The completion of the replacement of the valves in Section 3 has improved (not yet fully resolved) water supply to most parts of Phoenix, Mount Edgecombe, Virginia, uMhlanga and Durban North,” he said. 

He added that once the remaining six air valves are installed, water supply to affected areas should be fully restored.

Related article: Councillors express frustration over North Durban water crisis

Mbhele said the impact of all the repair work could be affected by acts of vandalism and sabotage, as has been found in other parts of the network.

He added that the City have appointed staff to continually inspect the old Northern Aqueduct to identify leaks and defective and vandalised valves to ensure interruptions are minimised.

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