Work is under way to make immediate and long-term repairs to the water and sanitation infrastructure that was damaged during flooding in KwaZulu-Natal, assured Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu.

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is also taking the opportunity to renew aging infrastructure.

“We are making immediate interventions by repairing damaged infrastructure, but at the same time we are embarking on a renewal programme of water and sanitation infrastructure in KwaZulu-Natal province”, said Mchunu, noting that most of the affected municipalities were already in deficit in terms of their ageing infrastructure.

“Our approach therefore is to take advantage of this situation to not only repair damaged infrastructure but also to renew these ailing infrastructures.”

The cost of damage to pipelines is estimated to be R63-million at iLembe district municipality; R12-million at uMgungundlovu district municipality; and R1-billion at eThekwini metropolitan municipality.

According to Mchunu, the main damage following the extensive flooding early in April is at the pipeline that supplies raw water to the Durban Heights water treatment works in eThekwini, which has led to the eThekwini metropolitan municipality losing about 280 megalitres of water and that has resulted in water reduction to communities.

He assured that Umgeni Water, however, has made improvements on the water supply side with an additional 50 megalitres a day.

One area of concern is the pollution of rivers by sewer spillages as a result of damaged sanitation infrastructure in the affected municipalities.

“We need to act fast to ascertain the amount of damage to sanitation infrastructure and to determine the way forward to address the problem of contamination of our water resources by these sewage spillages,” Mchunu added.

The Executive Mayors from eThekwini metropolitan municipality, iLembe district municipality and uMgungundlovu district municipality have also proclaimed their commitment to improve water supply to communities.

The eThekwini metropolitan municipality has reprioritised R600-million and the councillors are already at work at community level to identify areas in which repairs are needed, said eThekwini metropolitan municipality Executive Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda.

The water treatment plants were not severely affected in the municipality, but the problem of sewer spillages was as a result of a blocked system, rather than a system failure.

“The situation is now under control and work is already underway to make immediate interventions to ensure that members of the community receive water. I can confirm that water supply has improved by 60%, particularly in northern eThekwini,” he concluded.