Irregular water supply and the lack of water tankers have left Durban residents high and dry. Picture: Archives
Irregular water supply and the lack of water tankers have left Durban residents high and dry.
Ismail Lockhat, an Isipingo Beach resident, said the area has been having major issues with no water or low pressure from the reservoir for the last few weeks. On Tuesday, he said the water pressure dropped and most of the residents did not have water.
He said the residents of upper Ocean Terrace did not have water for eight days and believed that their constitutional right to have access to water was violated.
“In the past 3 months, we had regular water outages. The Isipingo Beach community is really suffering. It is impacting negatively on the lives of the aged and physically challenged. Sadly, during the water outages the municipality fails to even provide water tankers. The community has to make their own arrangements via the Isipingo Beach Civic and safety committee and private businesses,” Lockhat said.
In the north, residents complained to the Phoenix Civic and Ratepayers Movement. A resident stated that for two weeks, she had to endure difficult times because nobody could fill up water for her while she was at work.
Jonathan Tissong, eThekwini ward 50 Independent Candidate said residents are tired of daily water cuts.
“We contribute to the infrastructure fee allocated on our municipal bills. We expect that when new dwellings are built this fee is used to upgrade and maintain current infrastructure. Why must we suffer if the municipality has not done its part to upgrade, repair and maintain water infrastructure?
“It is the municipality’s responsibility. They have failed us, the paying consumers. We require urgent solutions with time frames for the necessary upgrades, repairs, and fixes to be completed and made public so the paying residents of Phoenix can hold the municipality accountable for the solutions presented,” Tissong said.
EThekwni Ratepayers and Residents Association (ERRA) spokesperson Ish Prahladh said residents of Chatsworth blockaded the Higginson Highway recently because of the water issue.
“Where are the water tankers that ratepayers paid for? We have requested that those coordinating the water tankers speak with roleplayers in communities so that every road is covered and everyone has received water,” Prahladh said.
Democratic Alliance eThekwini Exco member Yogis Govender said tanker contractors have not been paid for months and the figure might be close to R200 million. She said the city made a decision to dehire all vehicles immediately.
“It appears that currently, the city has about 55 tankers of which about 16 are in the workshop. How does the water-stricken city with 100 wards multiplied by hundreds of thousands of consumers manage without access to water,” Govender said.
EThekwini Mayor Cyril Xaba said it was unacceptable that residents should be made to endure a situation of non-availability of water for an extended period.
“In the last three months, we were inundated with calls from irate residents complaining about water challenges. In December, I convened an urgent meeting with the Water and Sanitation and the uMngeni-uThukela Water Board members. We agreed that our water system has recovered somewhat to warrant the review of the water curtailment. The water curtailment was lifted with immediate effect. But we still have water supply challenges, now, worse than before,” Xaba said.
Xaba is expected to hold an Executive Committee (Exco) meeting on Friday to discuss the situation. EThekwini spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said repair work to a main water pipeline in Springfield, which has been leaking for 30 days, is underway.
zainul.dawood@inl.co.za