Probe into water cut schedule leak
The eThekwini Municipality has launched an investigation into the source of a leaked report on scheduled water cuts.
|||Durban - The eThekwini Municipality has launched an investigation into who leaked a report on a weekly schedule of water cuts for parts of Durban, which went viral on social media this week.
Mayor James Nxumalo, supported by the municpality’s executive committee, instructed officials to investigate the source of the leak after it emerged the water and sanitation department had no plans to implement stringent, bi-weekly water cuts lasting up to nine hours.
The report, apparently written by the eThekwini Water and Sanitation Unit, was widely shared on social media, causing panic among residents and businesses.
On Tuesday, head of Water and Sanitation, Ednick Msweli, distanced his office from the leaked report saying no such measures would be implemented. He said while the city had been instructed by provincial authorities to reduce its consumption by 15%, there were no plans for so called “water shedding”.
“We are nowhere near that,” Msweli said. “What we do have plans for is to install water restrictors at homes,” he said.
Msweli said the city had, since December, urged residents to voluntarily reduce their consumption by 15%, but this had not worked.
He said Umgeni Water last week decided to reduce its water supply to the city by 15% in the light of it not being able to meet its reduction targets.
Msweli said he, with the city manager S’bu Sithole and the mayor, called Umgeni Water’s chief executive and asked for more time to implement the water saving measures.
“We have to save 15%. But the issue is how do we achieve that reduction? Our plan is to install restrictors. There is no other plan on the table. The plan is to intensify the installation of restrictors.
“Umgeni Water has not started restricting on their side which means they have listened to us,” he said.
Msweli said the city had already installed water restrictors to 50 000 homes, in Welbedacht East and West, KwaDabeka, Ntuzuma, Mount Moriah, uThongathi, Verulam, La Mercy, Westbrook and uMdloti, which are supplied from the Hazelmere Dam system.
They planned to roll out the programme to thousands more homes in the coming weeks.
A water restrictor is a small device installed in each domestic meter that reduces the flow of water to taps.
Msweli said they were able to reduce the amount of water going into people’s homes by making the holes in the restrictors smaller. These restrictors would be removed once the drought was over.
Two of the major dams which supply water to eThekwini are at critically low levels this week with little chance of them filling up until the next summer rains. Midmar Dam was at 46% while Albert Falls Dam was at 36%. Sithole said it was now time for the city to look at alternatives such as recycling effluent water.
“(This) is used in industries and is something we need to look at seriously. We need to start looking at all these measures to save water because the community must be assured of a supply of water,” he said.
Sithole slammed the leak of the report which he felt caused “unnecessary panic”.
He said restricting water was the worst case scenario and they would only do it after consultation with the public.
Daily News