The ongoing repairs to infrastructure that was damaged during the floods last year are the reason behind the water restrictions imposed on eThekwini Municipality residents, authorities said. Picture: Tumi Pakkies / Independent Newspapers
The ongoing work repairing infrastructure that was damaged during the floods in April 2022 is the reason behind the drops in water pressure and flows to reservoirs supplying the city, which has resulted in restrictions, according to the City.
This week, the eThekwini Municipality said it would be introducing water restrictions at night to compensate for the declining levels in reservoirs 2 and 3 at the Durban Heights Water Treatment Plant.
“The drastic reduction in water pressure and flows to most water reservoirs is due to the ongoing work following flood/storm damage,” eThekwini spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said.
The restriction will be imposed from 9pm to 4am, which started on Tuesday and will continue until the reservoir levels have recovered.
In a joint statement with Umngeni-uThukela, it said that there was a power outage at the Durban Heights facility, which also caused disruptions to the system.
Poor oversight of the system was also a contributing factor to the restrictions imposed on eThekwini residents.
“Due to the current low level of Reservoir 2 and 3 at Durban Heights, the eThekwini bulk supply system has not yet fully recovered,” it said.
It added that this was as a result of the water levels “not being monitored and managed efficiently”.
“In order to improve the water supply system, it was jointly agreed by both the city and Umgeni-uThukela Water that there would be restricted flows during the night. Operation teams will be shutting some reservoir inlets and outlets to help the recovery of Reservoir 2 and 3 levels as quickly as possible,” the municipality said on Wednesday.
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