eThekwini Municipality prioritises water management amid ongoing curtailment
Durban — As part of water curtailment initiatives, the eThekwini Municipality will prioritise areas with excessive demand.
In a statement on Sunday, the municipality said that to manage the higher demand in line with the ongoing water curtailment, it will prioritise areas where there is a high level of water wastage.
The municipality said the City's Water and Sanitation management made this clear during a ratepayers’ engagement on Friday, at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre (Durban ICC).
From October 10, uMngeni-uThukela Water (UUW) implemented water curtailment in the City. This will be implemented gradually for the next 12 months to ensure that the abstraction from the uMngeni system is brought to the licensed volumes and is maintained at this level.
The implementation of the curtailment is to enable continued water availability, including during periods of below-average rainfall. This is while plans to augment the water supply are under way.
Municipal spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said that with the curtailment in place, the City is required to implement initiatives to manage and reduce the high levels of water demand to ensure that available water supply is shared equitably.
“To clarify the issue of the installation of water restrictors on consumer meters, the City’s Water and Sanitation Unit’s management announced that restrictors to control the flow of water and to reduce the pressure have not been installed in any household as part of the curtailment,” Sisilana said.
She said it was stated water demand initiatives would not be implemented in a blanket approach. However, the priority is to target areas where there is excessive demand.
“Operational teams are analysing night flows to determine reservoir zones with excessive demand,” Sisilana explained.
“This is being done to first determine leaks and illegal connections on the system for these to be attended to timeously.”
Sisilana said the unit’s management stated that effort is being made to ensure that the minimum pressure will be supplied during peak demand periods.
“The reduction in pressure will take place during off-peak periods. This exercise will not be in a blanket approach once it is implemented,” Sisilana said.
“Residents are urged to play their part by conserving and reducing water consumption.”
Sisilana said the average water consumption in eThekwini is very high at 298 litres per capita (person), per day (l/c/d) compared to the international average of 173 l/c/d.
“The goal is not to shift the responsibility onto the public; however, the City is also addressing water losses and leakages,” Sisilana said.
“As the curtailment has been recently implemented, the City is still exploring various initiatives and any developments will be communicated.”
Sisilana also informed residents that the ongoing meter installations at various areas are not part of the curtailment initiatives. This project commenced last year as part of the City’s initiative to reduce non-revenue water.
The project includes the metering of historically unmetered properties, changes to domestic meters, upgrades for industrial, commercial, and institutional properties, and maintenance of outlet/zone meters.
Over 50 000 meters have been connected to date, and this is ongoing. This includes improvement of meter readings.
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