Durban residents may face the possibility of water restrictions in the near future following a directive by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) to the uMngeni-uThukela Water board to reduce the amount of water it is abstracting at the Umgeni Catchment.
The uMngeni-uThukela Water board said due to increased demand for water, it had been abstracting more from the system – an additional 140 million litres each day – and had been directed to stop this.
The water board said it had engaged its customers, including eThekwini Municipality (its biggest customer) about the directive from the national DWS and the possible impact.
The water board said the change would result in Durban losing close to 100 million litres of supply, but this process would take place gradually over a 12-month period.
The directive comes as the DWS has warned that water demand could exceed supply by 2030 if measures are not taken to prevent this.
UMngeni-uThukela water revealed last week that it will need more than a R100 billion investment in infrastructure to secure water supply till 2050.
The acting chief operations officer (COO) of uMngeni- uThukela Water, Sanele Mazibuko, told “The Mercury” last week that they supplied close to 1 300 million litres per day to their customers and due to increased demand for water, they had been abstracting more from the catchment.
In total, the water board was abstracting an additional 140 million litres per day and as per the directive from DWS by the end of a 12-month period, it should have eliminated that additional amount.
“We have to reduce by 140 million litres and for eThekwini, it’s about 100 million litres that we have to reduce by.
We have to reduce progressively; you cannot just shut off. It is a 12-month plan that has to be achieved progressively,” he said.
Head of water and sanitation in eThekwini, Ednick Msweli, said residents had about 12 months to modify their behaviour or they may be faced with severe restrictions.
He added that restrictions would be the last resort, but customers had to start using water sparingly.
“On our end the first things we are going to be dealing with are the issue of water leaks and we will also be dealing with the illegal connections in order to address water losses resulting in non-revenue water,” he said.
Msweli said members of the public should also be taking steps to conserve water, “for instance, it’s easy things like if you have been taking two showers a day, you take one now, that if you were taking longer showers, you have to take shorter showers”.
The head of water and sanitation said if the residents did not adjust their own behaviour independently, the city would have to step in and restrict water.
“We could have to put ‘restrictors’ on water meters, and direct people not to water gardens, but those are the worst case scenarios.”
He said besides the directive and the cuts, the Durban population needed to reduce their water use. “The fact of the matter is that we use way more water, it is much higher than the average (of what other people in other countries) are using.”
Msweli said the uMkhomazi Dam project would ease water pressure, but this should not lead to the belief that water could be misused, adding water was a scarce resource and this was possibly one of the last big dams that the province would build.
EThekwini Municipality spokesperson Gugu Sisilana reiterated the call for residents to conserve water, adding that restrictions were a real possibility, especially in areas where non-compliance was high and in areas with high illegal water usage.
She said the reduction could have a serious impact on residents.
“If there is no compliance with the restrictions then this will lead to there being intermittent supply as the City will be restricted from the purification plant, which is not an ideal situation,” she said.
She emphasised the need for water abstraction to be reduced, adding that the river could run dry if this did not happen.
In a statement to “The Mercury” the DWS said it had identified that uMngeni–uThukela Water Board (UUW) was exceeding their allocated volume as per their water use licence, from the Umgeni Catchment.
“A notice of intent to issue a directive was issued to UUW, to find solutions to alleviate the over abstraction.
“The UUW committed to reduce over-abstraction, which in turn results in a reduced water supply to UUW customers/water users which includes water services authorities (WSAs), and eThekwini is among the WSAs,” it said.
It added that the UUW notified and requested a plan of action to reduce water consumption from the WSAs, one of which being the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality (EMM).
The statement said the reduced abstraction by UUW resulted in UUW notifying its customers (WSAs) that their failure to reduce water consumption may result in water restrictions.
The Mercury