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As loadshedding leaves us all at our wit’s end, Ngagane, just outside of Newcastle, KZN has been contending with water outages on top of loadshedding.
“We have not had water for the past six days, and something needs to be done to resolve the matter. We cannot live like this,” explained a frustrated resident.
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With locals relying on the mercy of water tankers, the Amajuba District Municipality explained that due to the ongoing loadshedding, it is facing water production challenges at its plants. “The power outages cause water supply disruptions to many areas around the district,” said the District Municipality’s Communications Unit.
It should be noted that the Amajuba District Municipality covers Newcastle, Ngagane, Dannhauser and Utrecht.
With this in mind, the Amajuba District Municipality highlighted that it was for the above reason, that the municipality was fast-tracking the procurement of industrial generators as backup during times like these.
“Water tankers continue to supply water at the affected areas, and we must state that we do understand that supply of water using this method cannot adequately satisfy all because of the limited number of tankers we have at our disposal. Our team is trying by all means possible to ensure that at least all affected areas are reached,” the Municipality’s Communications Unit stressed.
While the District Municipality works on the issue, requesting residents to be patient during this challenging time, allegations have surfaced stating that there was another reason behind the water challenges.
A source claimed that there were issues at the Municipality’s water supply plants due to the government entity not making the necessary payments to Eskom. “The District Municipality has not paid Eskom, and this is the repercussions of non-payment,” the source alleged.
However, according to the Amajuba District Municipality, this is the furthest thing from the truth.
“There is no truth to the allegations that we have been having water supply disruptions because the municipality has not made payment to Eskom. We can confirm that the municipality is up to date with its payments to Eskom. We would want to assume that these allegations are because of the obvious frustrations by some residents because of the challenges that relate to water supply.”
Stressing that loadshedding was indeed the cause of water outages in the area, the Communications Unit further highlighted that the Amajuba District Municipality was doing its best to resolve the matter.
In fact, the Municipality has made steady progress in acquiring the necessary industrial generators to ensure that the water supply is returned as swiftly as possible.
“Regarding the purchase of industrial generators, we can confirm that work has already started with the service provider having started installation at Durnacol Treatment Plant Works and Ngagane Raw Water Pump Station which supplies raw water to Durnacol Water Treatment Works. The projected partial hand-over of those generators is 26 September 2022,” the Communications elaborated.
Moreover, the Communications Unit stated that it fully understood the public’s frustrations.
“The municipality wishes to apologise to the residents affected by the ongoing water outages caused by power challenges. Understanding the plight of the people the management of the municipality has made means with the appointed service provider to speed up the process of installing the generators that will be assisting during these hard times,” the Communications Unit concluded.
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