The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has commissioned the completed Spring Grove water treatment plant at the Rosetta and Bruntville Reservoir in Mooi River, in the uMgungundlovu District, KwaZulu-Natal.

The new plant, which was handed over on April 20 to uMgeni Water to manage, forms part of the Greater Mpofana bulk water supply scheme, one of the largest rural-based projects to be implemented in recent years aimed at providing access to safe drinking water.

The two-phase scheme, which has cost R 1.5-billion since 2012, is funded by the DWS and uMgeni Water-Amanzi.

The components of the Mpofana bulk water supply scheme comprises a 20 megalitres-a-day Rosetta-Spring Grove water treatment works, 8-km-long Nottingham Road pipeline, 13.2-km-long Bruntville pipeline and 12 megalitres Bruntville, five megalitres Nottingham Road and one megalitre Rosetta Reservoirs.

Through this project, water will be sourced from the Spring Grove dam located in Rosetta, treated at the newly-opened Rosetta-Spring Grove water treatment plant and transferred to the reservoirs.

The water will eventually be supplied to areas such as Lions River, Belgian, Mount West, Vaaleskop, Bruntville, Nottingham Road and Rosetta located in the Mpofana and Umgeni local municipalities, says Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu.

The project will ultimately benefit about 130 000 members of the community and bring social and economic benefits to the district through reliable water supply.

During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Mchunu urged the Water Services Authority, uMgungundlovu District, to start the reticulation process in earnest.

“The rights to water and basic sanitation are entrenched in our Constitution, and while we have not fully realised it, we are hard at work. uMgungundlovu is a water services authority and also a water service provider and, as such, it needs to ensure that it delivers on its mandate,” he adds.

Mchunu acknowledges that, for the longest time, rural communities and farm dwellers have been let down in as far as water provision is concerned but promised to change the situation by ensuring that by 2030, majority of them have access to clean water.

“We are very delighted to have officially completed such a huge reservoir and a water treatment plant. We all have a role to play to ensure that these infrastructures are protected, let us refrain from vandalising infrastructures that are meant to benefit us,” Mchunu concludes.