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Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu has assured Kwa Zulu-Natal residents that the water situation in the province is “fairly stable.”

eThwekini Metro among other areas have been receiving unstable water supply due to, what the minister calls, a challenge in aging infrastructure.

On Monday, eThwekini and Umgeni Water released a joint statement advising of water supply interruptions due shaft pump failure at the Durban Heights water Works – which will take up to 5 weeks to fix.

“Overall, eThekwini metro has a challenge of aging infrastructure. This is resulting in frequent failures in some areas,” said Mchunu. “This [pump failure] has affected a number of reservoirs including Umlazi, Phoenix, north of Durban, Mountain View and Verulam, which are already under strain.”

Minister Mchunu has apologised for the inconvenience to the residents and urged to use water sparingly.

The province’s dam levels are experiencing a slight decline this week, however, remaining above average.

The Umgeni Water Supply System dropped from 72,3% last week to 71,8% this week while the provinces overall levels remained stable at 65,5% this week.

This is according to a weekly report on the status of reservoirs issued by the Department of Water and Sanitation.

The department’s spokesperson Sputnik Ratau says the slight decrease in reservoirs is not a cause for concern.

“As the summer season comes into full swing it is expected for water to increase as well. We ask residents to be mindful of their neighbour and use water cautiously,” Ratau said.

“Most of our dams are at 50%, this includes Nagle which stands at 92,6% a slight drop from last week’s 93,4. Albert Falls, Inanda, Klipfontein and Ponglapoort all stand at 47,3%, 82.1%, 60,4% and 55,4% respectively.”
Zaaihok (71,6%) and Driel Barage (90,3%) dams are the only two dams to remain unchanged this week.

The Department of Water and Sanitation would like to remind water users that South Africa is a water scarce country, therefore, caution in water use must be exercised at all time.

“We need to inculcate the culture of saving at all time to ensure water security for years to come. Additionally, we need to fix leaking taps in our households because every drop of water lost counts”, Ratau concluded.

Full Statement Attached

Issued by the Department of Water & Sanitation