Water situation improving – eThekwini Water and Sanitation head
Although eThekwini Municipality believes that the water situation has improved, residents in and around Amanzimtoti have been experiencing more frequent water outages than before.
AS MORE residents in Amanzimtoti continue to experience an inconsistent water supply, the eThekwini Municipality believes that the Water and Sanitation Turnaround Strategy it implemented a year ago is starting to yield the desired outcomes.
Also read: Water supply challenges to Amanzimtoti continue
In April 2023, eThekwini implemented a plan to improve the performance of the Water and Sanitation unit and re-position it to meet the city’s current and future water and sanitation demands. The city has experienced a water deficit since 2016, and it currently cannot keep up with the demand that far outpaces supply.
eThekwini’s head of Water and Sanitation Ednick Msweli said the strategy involves implementing short-term and long-term solutions.
“One of the short-term solutions is to deal with water loss. To curb this, we will be installing 50 000 water meters this financial year. We will also fix leaks and improve the performance of our call centre,” said Msweli.
He admitted that there was a problem with how eThekwini currently distributes water because of faults in the distribution network.
As a long term-plan, eThekwini and the national Department of Water and Sanitation recently turned the sod for the uMkhomazi Bulk Water Supply project which is expected to be completed in 2029. The project involves the construction of a new dam which will remedy the water supply challenges to areas in the south of Durban.
Msweli said the R23 billion project is expected to be completed in 2029, and eThekwini will be footing 75% of the costs.
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