UMGENI Water says power supply issues are impeding the distribution of drinking water from the Hazelmere water treatment plant to consumers in Waterloo, Verulam, La Mercy, Ndwedwe, Ballito and Umhlali.
Corporate stakeholder manager for Umgeni Water, Shami Harichunder, said over the past seven days potable water distribution from the treatment works, outside Verulam, had been severely constrained.
“The plant is currently supplying, on average, only 50% of the 75Ml/d (75 million litres a day) of the drinking water it produces,” he said.
Umgeni Water said potable water produced at this plant was supplied to eThekwini Metro, the iLembe District Municipality and Siza Water for distribution to consumers in Waterloo, Verulam, La Mercy, Ndwedwe, Ballito and Umhlali.
“In a series of electricity-related occurrences there was, first, a complete break in power supply to the Hazelmere water treatment plant caused by damage to an eThekwini Electricity cable that was discovered by Umgeni Water staff and reported to eThekwini Electricity on Monday, 21 November 2022,” said Harichunder.
According to Harichunder the repair crew of eThekwini Electricity worked through the day and part of the night on Wednesday to locate and repair the fault.
“The problem could not be resolved on that day and a decision was taken to partially restore power to the plant through sharing of a line that supplies power to adjacent communities,” he said.
He said the repair teams returned to the site yesterday (Thursday) and by 2 pm the power supply had still not been restored.
While the partial restoration of electricity supply was welcomed, Harichunder said it is not adequate to pump water to all five of the Hazelmere water treatment plant’s systems at the same time. The five systems are Ndwedwe, Waterloo, Verulam, Ballito (through the Avondale reservoir) and La Mercy.
He said the amount of electricity currently available at the plant was adequate to pump drinking water to three systems simultaneously using four pumps.
“Therefore, Umgeni Water is currently using a system of rotational distribution of water to eThekwini Metro, iLembe District Municipality and Siza Water so that consumers are able to receive some water some times of the day,” said Harichunder.
Harichunder noted that the abstraction of raw water from Hazelmere Dam and its transfer to the treatment plant had not been affected because this process was undertaken through the use of generators when unplanned electricity failures or load shedding occurred.
The process of transfer of potable water from the plant to reservoirs was done using electricity-driven pumps, he said.
“Consumers in La Mercy, Ballito, Umhlali, Waterloo, Verulam and Ndwedwe are invariably feeling the cumulative effect of power supply interruptions through intermittent supply or low pressure when taps are opened. The reservoirs that serve these areas are currently receiving reduced volumes of drinking water because of rotational supply, a strategy necessitated by inadequate electricity availability.
“In the days preceding the power supply failure and reduced electricity supply, the plant was affected by Eskom load shedding. Eskom’s power outage also affected the pumping of potable water from the plant to reservoirs,” he said.
Harichunder said Umgeni Water staff were in regular communication with personnel of eThekwini Electricity to determine when the electricity supply to the Hazelmere water treatment works would be resolved.
Umgeni Water management was monitoring the situation closely, he said.
“There are plans to hold an urgent meeting with the head of eThekwini Electricity to discuss a resolution of the problem,” he said.