President Zuma to visit the drought hard-hit uThungulu District Municipality
1 April 2016
President Jacob Zuma will on Sunday, 03 April 2016, visit the drought hard-hit uThungulu District Municipality, in KwaZulu-Natal to monitor the delivery of water services and launch a drought relief programme in the area as part of government effort to support areas that had been affected by drought across the country.
The District Municipality is the Water Services Authority for five of the six local municipalities in its area of jurisdiction such as the Mbonambi Local Municipality, Nkandla Local Municipality, Ntambanana Local Municipality, Umlalazi Local Municipality and Mthonjaneni Local Municipality.
The Mhlathuze Local Municipality is authorized as a Water Service Authority for its local municipal area.
The district municipality, which is one of the most stricken areas by the current drought in KwaZulu-Natal, has bulk water infrastructure mainly centred in its small towns (Eshowe, Melmoth, Mtunzini, Nkandla and Mbonambi). It also has over 200 small water supply schemes served by production boreholes and springs covering most of its rural areas. Some of these water sources have dried up as a result of drought.
The district was allocated R23 Million from the Drought Relief Funds for the development of 32 new boreholes and protection of seven springs through its business plan that was approved by the Department of Water and Sanitation for implementation in April 2015.
The Mthonjaneni Local Municipality has about 9 712 households and 30 percent of this number (2 824 households) have no sustainable access to water. The town of Melmoth and Thubalethu Township are supplied by the small package water treatment plant (2.8 ML/d). This water treatment gets water from the Melmoth dam which had dried out, however with the recent rainfall; it has slightly recovered to 28 percent.
In February 2016 the department of Water and Sanitation donated a water tanker that was dedicated to service Melmoth area. In the same period, the district municipality put up twelve Jojo tanks in Thubalethu and another twelve Jojo tanks in town. Each Jojo tank has a capacity of 5 000 litres. The water tanker is fetching water from the Melmoth water treatment plant and fills the Jojo tanks.
The current schedule of water supply is that both the town and the township alternate, i.e. one day the tanker fills the town and the following day it fills the township. The drought task team in the area have embarked on measures to look for additional water sources which include negotiating with private farmers to use their dams, drilling additional boreholes and raising the wall of the weir.
The water supply network in Melmoth comprises mainly of AC pipes. These AC pipes are old (up to 50 years) and are corroded from the inside and outside.
The following refurbishment and upgrading requirements were identified to address the above mentioned challenges:
- Bulk pipeline, reservoirs and pump station to effect a connection to the regional water scheme;
- Replacement of AC pipes in Melmoth with uPVC pipes;
- Construction of 1 500 kℓ reservoir for Melmoth;
- Establishment of water demand management facilities.
In his State of the Nation Address in February, President Zuma indicated that government would continue to support assist farmers and also provide water-tank services to communities, through its Drought Relief Fund, during these difficult times where drought continues to affect many areas in the country. The President said the building of water infrastructure remains critical so that we can expand access to our people and industry.
Issued by Bongani Majola on behalf of the Presidency, 1 April 2016
