eThekwini residents need to brace for water shedding as the city races against time to beef up its water capacity before it runs dry.
That's the warning from DA councillor in Durban's Morningside area, Ernest Smith.
"I can confirm there is a high possibility of water shedding to come. The reality is that there is just not enough water for the city. How long this will last depends on how long it takes to ensure enough capacity to meet demand," he told a community gathering with eThekwini officials.
But, former city manager Mike Sutcliffe, tasked with a turnaround strategy for the city, says blame can not be placed solely at the Municipality's doorstep.
"As a country and as a city we have to address both the supply of and demand for water. The reality is that South Africa is a water-scarce country due to physical limits – low average rainfall; hot climate, poor management and inefficient use. At the same time, our average consumption is 235 litres per person per day whilst the world average is around 173 litres per person per day. Our water deficit in SA by 2030 could be as large as 3.8 billion cubic metres which means a shortfall of some 17% in terms of what we need," he told IOL.
eThekwini Municipality has long appealed to residents to use water sparingly in the face of critical water shortages. This is being backed by Sutcliffe who has also called for a more proactive recycling approach.
"In eThekwini we have to reduce our consumption, whilst also increasing supply (that is why Umkomanzi Dam is already behind our original plans). We must also reduce non-revenue water (fixing, maintaining, renewing etc our existing infrastructure) and increase capital investment which has declined significantly over the past ten years.
“Part of this means getting to be as innovative as we have been historically, such as with Mondi Paper over 20 years ago when through recycling wastewater through a concession freed up water for approximately 300,000 Durban residents in areas like Umlazi.
“There are high level proposals by National Treasury to make the three critical trading services (Water and sanitation, electricity and waste) operate as business units focussed on customer management, financial planning, asset management and asset creation with a focus on competency," he added.
A recent internal audit of the state of the city's water unit, seen by IOL, painted a dire picture if drastic action was not implemented. It called for an immediate 8% reduction in water supply as capacity was simply not able to meet current demand.
The city, in its efforts, is fighting against time — to ensure the Umkomanzi Dam is built on time before water supply runs dry and to intensify its education campaign on water usage.
Coupled with this, is the fight against revenue collection and wastage — more than 50% of the city's water is lost through wastage, poor infrastructure, unpaid for and leaks. An estimated R6 billion is needed to repair ailing sewage infrastructure alone.
The new R30million Umkomanzi dam project, once completed, will be the country's largest water transfer project and will plug the city's water crisis by increasing capacity by over 50%.
The challenge for the city is how to manage its current resources until then.