Dwindling resources, a demand outstripping supply, creaking infrastructure and the worst drought in over 70 years…the challenges facing uThukela Water are daunting.
To compound this, the Government has ruled that KZN will only have two water entities, which means by 2017, uThukela Water will not exist having been absorbed by one of the other bigger entities.
These challenges were revealed at uThukela Water’s annual general meeting in Newcastle. UThukela supplies bulk water to the Umzinyathi and Amajuba District Municipalities.
Dan Naidoo, board chairman, said the Biggarsberg plant – that supplies Endumeni – has a capacity of 19,3 mega litres a day but because of a lack of supply, is currently operating at 15,8 mega litres a day.
“Umzinyathi was the first area to feel the effects of the drought. The small supply dams (Donald McHardy, Preston Pan, Tom Worthington etc.) quickly became unusable which caused major disruptions to supply in Dundee and Glencoe.

“The area is reliant on the Buffalo River which is augmented from water released from Chelmsford dam. The ageing water pump infrastructure was severely exposed during this period.”
Mr Naidoo said a Joint Drought Committee – comprising of farmers, businesses and municipalities – was formed to manage the crisis. “Boreholes were drilled to supply water to Orange Grove Dairy and to other areas to prevent an economic disaster.”
Emergency funding was accessed to upgrade the Tayside pump station and to install a third pump to augment the ageing infrastructure.
Mr Naidoo told the meeting – at which no one from Umzinyathi was present – that a master plan has been drawn up to supplement water in the area.
These include the building of a dam north of Newcastle to boost the supply to the Buffalo River.
“Without rain or funding this will not happen. Water in fracture planning is done 30-50 years hence. Even if it does rain, we need a paradigm shift in the way we use water. Planet Earth cannot supply enough water. We need a shift in lifestyle.”

The water supplied is of a ‘blue drop’ status, which means it is Government-approved quality.
UThukela sells bulk water at R2,46 a kilolitre to the District Municipalities who then reticulate the supply to households and businesses.
However, the tariff is ‘totally out of sync’ with reality, Mr Naidoo said.
“This means the cost of water is totally underfunded and should be sold at around R4-R6 a kilolitre. This has impacted on our ability to fund capital maintenance projects.”
Despite all these setbacks, uThukela Water has managed to run an efficient entity, which, for the seventh year in a row, achieved a clean audit status.
The water supplied is of a ‘blue drop’ status, which means it is Government-approved quality.
Answering questions from the floor, Mr Naidoo said the ‘war on leaks’ is continuing – the target is to reduce losses to leaks to 25%. The loss average in Singapore is under 2%.
Durban recently spent R1-billion to bring down the leak percentage from 41% to 35%. “Clearly, we need a mind shift as to how we use and abuse water.”