Areas with excessive water demand to be prioritised
Date: 2024-11-22 09:14:37
Areas with excessive water demand to be prioritised
TO manage the higher water demand, in line with the ongoing water curtailment, eThekwini Municipality will prioritise areas where there are high levels of water wastage. This was clarified by the City’s Water and Sanitation management during a ratepayers engagement on 25 October at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre. This follows the implementation of water curtailment to the City by Umngeni-uThukela Water on 10 October. This exercise will be implemented gradually for the next 12 months to ensure that the abstraction from the uMngeni system is brought to the licenced volumes and is maintained at this level.
The curtailment is being implemented to enable continued water availability, including during periods of below-average rainfall while plans to augment water supply are underway. To clarify the issue of the installation of water restrictors on consumer meters, the City’s Water and Sanitation management announced that restrictors to control the flow of water and to reduce the pressure have not been installed in any household as part of the curtailment.
However, the priority is to target areas where there’s excessive demand. Operational teams are analysing night flows to determine reservoir zones with excessive demand. This is being done to first determine leaks and illegal connections on the system for these to be attended to timeously. Every effort is being made to ensure that the minimum pressure will be supplied during peak demand periods. The reduction in pressure will take place during offpeak periods, which will not be noticeable to most consumers.