Durban - Umgeni Water has promised to fully restore the water supply to the entire eThekwini area in a few days.
This was announced by board chairperson Ziphozethu Mathenjwa after assessing damaged pipes in Hillcrest and the Wushwini areas under the KwaNgcolosi Traditional Authority west of Durban on Monday.
She said that damaged pipes ran from Nagel Dam and Inanda Dam. Since the damage to the infrastructure two weeks ago, engineers had been working around the clock to restore water to the municipalities that were badly affected by the floods. She added that residents and businesses could expect the full restoration of their water supply in a few days.
Mathenjwa said Umgeni Water had to use pumps to help improve the water supply, and had commissioned aqueduct 3, and would commission aqueduct 4, which has never happened before. She was accompanied by Inkosi Bhekisisa Bhengu and ward 9 councillor Nonsikelelo Msomi, as well as other officials.
She said consumers should take comfort in knowing that the water supply had improved from 120 megalitres a day to 510 megalitres, which was between 80% and 90% of normal supply.
“You will see that we have made a lot of progress. After the floods damaged our system two weeks ago we went down to 120 megalitres a day, which would only supply close to 800 000 people, but now we have jumped to 510 megalitres, which tells you we are very close to fully restoring water supply to all consumers.
“It is important to say this given the reports we are getting in the news where people are fighting for water, and we heard one employee who worked in the municipality water section was killed in Verulam, although we are not sure whether it was related or not, so we are calling for patience in our communities,” said Mathenjwa.
She said their engineers had estimated that the damage would cost R850 million to repair, saying there was a possibility that the figure may increase since the assessment had not been completed because there were areas that could only be reached by helicopter.
Her team would return on Wednesday to make a final assessment, and by the weekend the work to repair damaged infrastructure would begin. Mathenjwa warned residents not to use water coming from damaged pipes, because some pipes were carrying waste. She said she feared an outbreak of diseases like cholera, and urged people to boil water they collected from streams.
Inkosi Bhengu also called for calm and tolerance while Umgeni Water repaired infrastructure.
Wushwini falls under ward 9 and was one the most affected areas, with 24 people confirmed dead and nine still missing.
Councillor Msomi said search and rescue teams were still searching for bodies that were believed to have been washed into Inanda Dam.
Daily News