Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu has raised concern at the high deficit of water supply to communities in the King Cetshwayo District Municipality and the management of debt owed to the uMngeni-uThukela Water Board.
Mchunu raised his concerns at a meeting held with the leaders of the King Cetshwayo District Municipality, including the Mfolozi and uMlalazi Local Municipalities, which fall under the district in KwaZulu-Natal.
According to the 2022 Stats SA community survey, the King Cetshwayo District Municipality is home to 1 021 344 citizens and is one of the municipalities within KwaZulu-Natal that is faced with water and sanitation challenges.
The district is a Water Services Authority (WSA) and Water Services Provider (WSP) within its area of jurisdiction, except for the City of uMhlathuze Municipality, which has its own WSA status.
Mchunu noted that despite the interventions by the department and the district, there is a shortfall of 63 megalitres per day.
To address this challenge, Mchunu said the department, together with the district, will have to build additional water resources infrastructure, including water treatment capacity and distribution infrastructure to augment the supply of water, which currently stands at more than 36 megalitres per day.
The Minister said water supply schemes must augment water supply in the district in order to deal with the long-standing water shortage in the district.
“This is a huge deficit, which is a challenge because it is more than the available water we have for the district at the moment. We need to close this deficit and ensure that there is enough access to water for the people,” Mchunu said.
The King Cetshwayo District Municipality performed poorly during the Blue Drop assessment, resulting in a significant decrease of the municipal Blue Drop score from 74.08% in 2014 to 41.06% in 2023.
Municipal debt
Mchunu raised his dissatisfaction at money owed by the district to the uMngeni-uThukela Water Board, which manages and operates bulk water infrastructure, including abstraction, water purification plants and command reservoirs.
The water board is also responsible for ensuring good quality water in line with SANS: 241, and to undertake maintenance related challenges, and manage and operate boreholes within district.
“The district municipality debts to our water boards are a worrying factor and interferes with the capacity of the municipality to offer the services to the people. We, as the Department of Water and Sanitation, will be assisting municipalities and the water boards to deal with the issue of debt,” Mchunu said, adding this issue can only be resolved through cooperation between the affected parties.
The Minister also called on the district not to compromise the services to the people, and to improve on its capacity and determination to ensure that members of the community have access to clean and fresh water.
He said there should be cooperation between the district municipality and the Department of Water and Sanitation to deliver the services to the people within the district.
King Cetshwayo District Municipality Executive Mayor, Thamsanqa Ntuli, said the municipality has attained a steady and notable improvement on access to water supply, with major attention on bulk water supply infrastructure.
“The implementation of water infrastructure projects within the district is critical and will assist in addressing challenges of water rationing, and to eradicate the use of water tankers in the communities that are without water,” Ntuli said. – SAnews.gov.za
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