Umgeni warns of prolonged water issues in Durban
Umgeni Water says residents in and around Durban are going to have to rely on very little or an intermittent supply of water over the next five weeks.
From last week, repairs have been underway to fix a faulty shaft pump that supplies raw water to the Durban Heights water treatment plant.
Umgeni Water says some 12 areas that are fed drinking water from the plant are affected.
These include Umlazi, Phoenix, Sunningdale, Durban North and parts of Verulam and Ntuzuma.
The utility's Shami Harichunder says they're working around the clock to repair the pump.
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"The complexity of this operation is intense. This pump is about 200 metres below the surface so as we speak the contractors are working on this project to remove the pump and take it to the workplace to be disassembled and they will know what is wrong and fix it as quickly as possible. We are acting rapidly in the meantime we are providing water tankers in eThekwini."
Meanwhile, the Day-2-Day Foundation's been collecting and supplying water to some communities.
Founder Mohammed Khan says some areas have been without the precious resource since Saturday.
"We mobilised, we are putting teams together. A guy with a bakkie a bin, a truck with a Jojo tank and then we have tapped into sponsors and network partners who we always work with to get bottled water."
The eThekwini Municipality's urging residents to use water sparingly during this time.
