The uMngeni-uThukela water board needs close to R100 billion for infrastructure development to ensure water security across KwaZulu-Natal for the next three decades.
The uMngeni-uThukela water board needs close to R100 billion for infrastructure development to ensure water security across KwaZulu-Natal for the next three decades.
Sanele Mazibuko, acting chief operations officer (COO) of the entity, revealed this in an interview with The Mercury on Thursday. He said the water board has drafted a water master plan designed to meet the province’s water needs.
Earlier this year, Umgeni Water and Mhlathuze Water merged to form uMngeni-uThukela.
On Thursday the financials for the erstwhile Umgeni Water board were tabled during a media briefing and it was also announced that it had corrected the spelling of Umgeni to uMngeni.
The results for the then Mhlathuze water board are still to be tabled.
Mazibuko said the entity was working hard to ensure wall-to-wall coverage of water supply across the province all the way to 2050, adding that key to guaranteeing water security was the building of infrastructure.
This comes as the Department of Water and Sanitation painted a dire picture of water security in the near future. Its report, released recently, showed demand for water could outstrip supply by 2030.
“As we plan for the infrastructure to roll out water, it’s important that our communities assist us by saving water and make sure water leaks are reported to the relevant authorities to reduce water loss.
“For KwaZulu-Natal, we have done what we call a Universal Access Plan.
We know which infrastructure must be brought in at what interval to make sure the sustainability and wall-to-wall supply are achieved. We are doing feasibility studies to make sure we know what needs to be done in terms of infrastructure,” he said.
Mazibuko said the Universal Access Plan was drawn up in 2021 and at the time they had costed what needs to be done to deal with all water issues across the province. The initial figure had stood at R70bn, but has climbed to R100bn.
He said the infrastructure was meant to increase water access and manage it.
“Where you have existing infrastructure you increase capacity and you extend distribution to communities. In other areas there is no infrastructure, so you need to find the source, build storage, and other systems just need to be refurbished.”
Mazibuko added that municipalities are losing 52% of the water they purchase from the water board and this was an indication of how dire the situation is.
Chief financial officer Thami Mkhwanazi said there was an urgent need to deal with water losses, non-revenue water, incorrect billing, leaks and non payment of services.
“We need to build the uMkhomazi Dam for future supply of water because the population is growing.
“When we look at the supply, we are slightly above the demand in terms of what we can supply on the current water resources.
“Which means it will ease up the pressure on the current system. At the moment we are running close to 100% in terms of supply versus demand.
“We will collaborate with municipalities to deal with leaks. Deal with problems of billing, you might find that the demand is going to reduce,” he said.
The Mercury