Durban — A community member of Osindisweni outside Verulam, Wendy Mkhwanazi, says a council delegation that came to address the water shortages on Friday told them that most of the water cuts in the area were caused by load shedding.
“After their visit and discussions with the community, some community members did receive water, albeit intermittently, while others are still struggling to get water from their taps,” Mkhwanazi said.
The local Induna Yesizwe samaQadi, Marco Msomi, said he had been talking to the eThekwini Municipality about this issue for a long time.
“We welcome the attempts they are making to ensure water supply, and hope that this problem is going to be resolved once and for all now,” Msomi said.
The eThekwini Municipality had convened a community meeting with Osindisweni residents, in which they promised them that a pump at the Ogunjini 1 pump station would be recommissioned this week, to serve as a contingency measure to address the water challenges in the Osindisweni area.
The municipality said it was intended that the pump would pump water to all four reservoirs in the area.
The solutions were presented to the community of Osindisweni, ward 59, by eThekwini speaker Thabani Nyawose when he updated them at a community meeting held on Friday on the city’s interventions to end the water shortages in the area.
Nyawose was joined by officials from the eThekwini Water and Sanitation (EWS) Unit.
This after the residents of Osindisweni took to the streets last Wednesday to demand answers from eThekwini over the ongoing water crisis and inconsistencies of water deliveries by water tankers.
During the protest, the water-starved residents said it had been more than three years since they had last seen a drop of water from their taps.
The water shortage is due to the inability of the Ogunjini Water Works to meet the demand from the area sufficiently.
Upgrades to increase the water works’ capacity to 2Ml a day are under way, and they are expected to be completed in October.
In the interim, the City is attending to the mechanical and electrical challenges affecting the waterworks, to produce water to its current full capacity of 0.9 kilolitres a day.
In order to augment the water supply, the City will increase the number of water tankers in the area.
A team of plumbers has also been dispatched to attend to leaks in the area.
Nyawose and EWS head Ednick Msweli apologised to residents about the water shortage they are facing, and assured them that the City was working with speed to resolve the challenges.
Ahead of the community meeting, officials conducted a site visit with some community members to the Ogunjini Water Works and the pump station.
During the site inspections, they explained to community members how the water infrastructure operated, and the cause of the current challenges that were causing the infrastructural damage.
“The City will continue to monitor the performance of the contractor doing upgrades of the water works, to ensure that the deadline for completion is met.
“We apologise for the inconvenience caused by these water shortages, and appeal to the community for patience while efforts to resolve the current challenges are being made,” Nyawose said.
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