What the officials said

UMGENI-uThukela Water spokesman, Siyabonga Maphumulo, confirmed that the work related to both shutdowns was completed and that the matter was resolved on their end.

He said the issues were now pertaining to water reticulation systems, which concerned the municipality.

He referred the POST to a previous statement which read: “Our water infrastructure was one of the casualties of the April 2022 floods. The disastrous effects of the floods took a heavy toll on two of our aqueducts.

“These large diameter pipelines are the mainstay of our bulk water provision system to the greater eThekwini Metro region as they are responsible for churning out 550 mega litres of water daily which the city’s residents consume.”

eThekwini Municipality’s spokesperson, Gugu Sisilana, said the city had anticipated that the entire system would take approximately seven days to recover.

“But seemingly it is taking longer due to the current heat wave and water infrastructure vandalism on some off-takes, that is Phoenix and Verulam.

“While most areas have their water supply fully restored, areas such as Phoenix and Verulam are still experiencing intermittent water supply.

“Full restoration will depend if no further vandalism is experienced on critical water infrastructure.

“Consumers are also urged to use water sparingly during the recovery period.

“On average there is a total of 105 water tankers on the road. These water tankers are sufficient as they are used during emergency situations.

“Illegal water usage, theft and vandalism of water infrastructure cause serious strain to the supply system.

“Tankering of water also depletes water available at consumers’ taps since the water used to fill up tankers comes from the same storage reservoirs, so if there is no water in reservoirs there won’t be enough water to fill up water tankers.” she said.