Durban suburbs without water for 3 days

A burst water pipe deep in Paradise Valley Nature Reserve has left thousands of south Durban residents without water for three days.

|||

Durban - A burst water pipe deep in Paradise Valley Nature Reserve has left thousands of south Durban residents without water for three days.

On Thursday, eThekwini Municipality workers were still fixing the broken pipe and hoped to restore water by the afternoon.

According to the municipality, areas affected included Northdene, Chatsworth, Shallcross, Klaarwater, Tshelimnyama, Dassenhoek, St Wendolins and uMlazi.

On its Facebook page, the municipality said water technicians had found the burst pipe in the riverbed, deep in the Pinetown nature reserve, in dense vegetation.

“Technicians have reported that heavy duty excavators are being used to clear a 50m drop to the river embankment at Paradise Valley Nature Reserve for the welding crew to gain access to fix the damaged pipe in the riverbed,” the municipality said.

“Technicians will then divert parts of the river by pumping water out to keep the area dry for welding.

“An estimated time for repair is 24 hours. We ask that all residents in eThekwini remain on high alert as more areas may be affected.

“We ask that you reduce consumption as supply may be diverted,” the municipality said.

Chatsworth residents said they were angry at the city’s lack of action and the fact that it had taken them so many days to find and repair the pipe.

“How does a single pipe-burst affect areas such as Welbedacht and Bellington, areas which have not had water for the past three days?” asked Laeeqah Osman, 27, of Crossmoor.

Nathan Moses, of Wiltshire Road in Westcliff, said he had to twice make the 10km journey from Chatsworth to Hillary, to his brother’s house, to collect water with buckets, pots and other containers.

“We can survive a few days without electricity, but water is much more essential, and not having it for a couple of days is very difficult to handle,” said Moses.

Bilal Malik, owner of a restaurant, Cafe Medina, in Unit 5 in Chatsworth, said: “We are struggling to cook all the food offered on our menu due to this situation.

“We cannot even give customers water to drink. We are now having to sell only half of the items on our menu and this is not good for business.”

The residents also said that although water tankers were supplying water to the area, this was not enough for the entire community because people even fought over it.

The municipality said it had received reports late last night that water tanker drivers were being bullied by the community.

“A few drivers have had guns pointed at them, keys taken away and are (stopped) en-route. Residents are jamming tankers so that they do not move on to other roads.

“Cars are tailing tankers. One resident continued to fill 6x100-litre drums, stopping others from taking water.

“Please be courteous, residents, take what you need and allow the tankers to go to other areas.

“Our tankers have not reached so many streets.

“Please allow for them to proceed,” the municipality said on Facebook.

eThekwini Municipality spokesman, Thulani Mbatha, said the city’s technicians were working hard to fix the burst pipe, which he described as being “embedded” in the nature reserve.

He said on Thursday that the city’s engineers had managed to commission a pipeline to supply some of the reservoirs and lower-lying areas with water, but the higher-lying areas were still dependent on the water tankers.

He said this was a major repair and urged residents to be patient.

Daily News