Ilembe District faces 18-hour water outage due to emergency repairs

By late Tuesday afternoon, residents across the iLembe District were still without water following a leak at the Lower Thukela Water Works that was discovered on Monday morning.

According to uMngeni-uThukela Water (UUW), the repair was expected to take 18 hours to complete.

The leak, attributed to Scour Valve Number 18, led uMngeni-uThukela Water to initiate an emergency shutdown to carry out essential repairs.

Spokesperson Siyabonga Maphumulo said on Monday that the shutdown would run from 6am until 11pm and would affect the water supply in various areas across the district.

Maphumulo said the affected communities included Sakhamkhanya, San Souci, Shekembula, Ohlange, Mdlebeni, Lindelani, Shakaville, Zamani, Darnall, Zinkwazi, Blythedale, Stanger Manor, Warrenton, Doesburg, the KwaDukuza Central Business District, Glenhills, Nyoniyamanzi Lot 16, and Gledhow North.

As residents prepared for the extended outage, UUW encouraged them to make adequate water provisions.

Maphumulo extended an apology to affected residents for the inconvenience and said the shutdown was necessary to ensure a thorough and safe repair process.

“Once repairs are concluded, the water supply will be reinstated,” he said.

The leak comes on the heels of similar water supply issues experienced last week, when residents in the western townships of eThekwini and parts of the uMgungundlovu District faced temporary supply interruptions.

Repairs at that time involved a critical pipeline delivering 30 megalitres of water daily.

When questioned about whether the frequency of leaks could be attributed to ageing infrastructure, Maphumulo refuted the claim.

“uMngeni-uThukela Water has a maintenance plan. The leaks have nothing to do with ageing infrastructure,” he said, dismissing concerns regarding the agency’s operational integrity.

A week ago, the agency also alerted residents to elevated levels of iron and manganese in one of its dams.

Despite these challenges, Maphumulo reassured residents that the water remained safe for consumption.

“Current water quality results indicate that although the final water is out of specification in terms of the limits for iron and manganese, it fully complies with the prescribed health limits as per SANS 241 drinking water quality standards,” he explained.

Resident Sindisiwe Mbhele from KwaDukuza told the Daily News that water was a scarce commodity in her area.

“The announcement means nothing to some of us. We hardly have running water. We are always affected by shutdowns,” she said.

Halalisani Ndlovu, a KwaDukuza councillor, said rate-paying and tariff-paying residents of the area had endured persistent and unacceptable water supply failures for years.

Ndlovu said communities were effectively subjected to water-shedding, with supply cut off in the evenings and only restored in the early hours of the morning.

He said the situation was worsened by ageing infrastructure, ongoing leaks, and repeated supply disruptions, leaving residents to fend for themselves.

“Despite being paying customers of the District Municipality, most residents receive little to no relief, including the near-absence of water tanker support,” he said.

In contrast, the southern areas of KwaDukuza serviced by Siza Water continued to experience a far more reliable supply.

“This proves that a viable alternative already exists within the municipality,” Ndlovu said.

“For this reason, ActionSA supports the retention of Siza Water as the supplier in the south and has been vocal, through our ongoing petition, in calling for the entity’s expansion into other parts of KwaDukuza. Water is a basic service, and paying residents deserve reliability and dignity,” Ndlovu concluded.

DAILY NEWS