The eThekwini Municipality has been applauded by the National Treasury for developing the Water Turnaround Strategy, which forms part of the Metro Trading Services Reforms which starts in the 2024/25 financial year. Picture: Ntuthuko Mlondo
Durban — eThekwini Municipality has been applauded by the National Treasury for developing the Water Turnaround Strategy, which forms part of the Metro Trading Services Reforms which starts in the 2024/25 financial year.
This was revealed during an executive committee meeting on Tuesday.
In their statement, the eThekwini Municipality was commended for developing the Water and Sanitation Turnaround Strategy. Since it was adopted in April 2023, notable progress has been made.
“This strategy was aimed at improving the performance of the Water and Sanitation Unit while fast-tracking interventions to ensure that it can meet current and future water and sanitation demands,” the statement said.
It added that the implementation of the strategy was based on a set of key objectives that were developed by the City and supported by National Treasury’s City Support Programme.
The statement continued by saying the strategy was beginning to yield desired outcomes.
“For instance, there has been a steady decline in the loss of non-revenue water which can be attributed mainly to the increase in metre readings as well as an increase in resources for maintenance. Plumbing teams are now swiftly deployed to repair leaks and burst pipes,” it said.
In line with the turnaround strategy, the City was finalising non-revenue water loss reduction initiatives that include a performance-based project for the Phoenix, Inanda, Ntuzuma, and KwaMashu areas; which will be assisted by the World Bank and Development Bank of Southern Africa and is now at an advanced project preparation stage.
Meanwhile, other non-revenue water programmes are at various stages of procurement to address all water supply systems.
These include water loss professional service contracts and leak detection contracts. This work is also bolstered by the establishment of the Non-Revenue Water Section which forms part of the ongoing restructuring of the Water and Sanitation Unit which is also under way.
Addressing intermittent water supply affecting many areas remains a key priority.
They concluded by saying to ensure water security in the City, the turnaround strategy requires that major medium to long-term water resources projects must be implemented.
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