The DA in eThekwini says revelations the municipality has resorted to water shedding in some areas owing to supply shortages is further proof the metro needs to be placed under administration.
“The Mercury” reported on Monday that uMlazi and Ntuzuma were being water-shed. In uMlazi, water is available during the day, but it is turned off at night to allow the relevant reservoir to fill up.
DA councillor Yogis Govender said the revelations were concerning, but not surprising. She pointed out that eThekwini Water Services (EWS) had long been fraught with supply versus demand issues, and this was not the only area where water shedding was being implemented.
Various reservoirs required water distribution officers to open and close outlets to allow reservoirs to build storage, simply because there wasn’t enough water to meet the needs of the communities they served.
Govender said such a situation could have been wholly prevented if EWS had planned in advance to upgrade, replace and maintain infrastructure, in line with the region’s rate of economic development, formally and informally, and population growth.
“It has become unbearable for residents living in these areas, whose lives revolve around an erratic supply (of) and dismal access to water via tankers. Protests have erupted several times in the northern regions for the very same reasons of extreme compulsory water shedding.”
She said that eThekwini needed to go under administration. She added: “Sufficient skills and budget have to be ring-fenced (to remedy) the catastrophe that EWS has become. To overhaul this unit will take billions (of rand), which the city has not prioritised.”
The Mercury