eThekwini metro mayor Cyril Xaba announced at the city’s 2024-25 summer season campaign on Wednesday that work on repairing wastewater treatment plants was nearing completion.
eThekwini metro residents and ratepayers want President Cyril Ramaphosa and national government departments to intervene in the city, saying they fear a drinking water crisis because rivers are polluted with E coli from raw sewage.
This comes as eThekwini metro mayor Cyril Xaba announced at the city’s 2024-25 summer season campaign on Wednesday that work on repairing wastewater treatment plants was nearing completion.
Xaba said the city expects about 1.3 million visitors and to achieve hotel occupancy of more than 65% in the summer holiday season.
“We want to assure our visitors that we have put measures in place to guarantee their safety and that our beaches as well as swimming pools are safe for swimming,” he said..
“A lot of effort has been put into repairing and upgrading our sanitation infrastructure, especially along the coastal line to prevent raw sewerage from polluting our beaches. This includes the upgrading of 10 wastewater treatment plants which handle 90% of the sewerage in the city.”
Xaba said work on fixing seven of the plants had been completed and he was awaiting a report regarding the repairs to the remaining three plants.
He added that there was an ongoing programme to ensure that all street lights and CCTV cameras across the city were “fully operational and visible policing had been heightened at tourist attractions”.
According to the latest data released by eThekwini metro on 3 September, five beaches remain closed because of high levels of E coli — Battery, Country Club, eThekwini, Laguna and Reunion.
Asked about these beach closures, Xaba said dealing with the sewerage problem remained a “work in progress”.
Potable water
Apart from the pollution of beach water, eThekwini United Ratepayers, Business and Civics Organisation this week wrote to Ramaphosa, the departments of water and sanitation, forestry fisheries and the environment and cooperative governance and traditional affairs, as well as the South African Human Rights Commission, warning of a impending drinking water crisis.
This is after high levels of raw sewage entered uMngeni and Msunduzi and rivers. The consequent growth of algae is blocking the filters of wastewater treatment works plants. The organisation represents 15 ratepayers associations across the city.
The organisation’s chairperson, Allison Schoeman, warned in the letter that residents were concerned about “the impending risk of a major water shortage” in the metro.
She highlighted incidents of industrial pollution and sewage contamination of uMngeni and Msunduzi rivers dating back to 2019, saying that by August 2024 the pollution had “reached a tipping point”. The capacity of the Durban Heights Water Treatment Plant to treat water has been caused by algae “that proliferate under conditions created
by high pollution levels, including untreated sewage and industrial runoff”.
She said the plant, which supplies about 55% of Durban’s potable water, is as a result now operating under severe strain.
“With Durban’s hot summer season approaching, the algae problem will escalate rapidly, as high temperatures will create ideal conditions for algae proliferation. This will worsen the current situation and could overwhelm the plant’s capacity to treat the water effectively. The growing risk of the plant losing its operational capacity would have devastating consequences, threatening the livelihoods and health of millions of residents.”
She warned that the government’s failure to urgently act could lead to “catastrophic public health outcomes” and “provoke widespread unrest similar to the violent riots experienced in July 2021.”
In the letter, residents demand:
• An immediate investigation into the sources of pollution affecting uMngeni and Msunduzi rivers, particularly the causes of the latest spills and ongoing sewage blockages;
• Public disclosure of information regarding the environmental response to the 2019 Willowton industrial spill into the Msunduzi River;
• A detailed remedial action plan to restore the river systems and prevent further contamination;
• Serious consequence management against officials whose negligence or failure to take swift action led to the current state of the Msunduzi River and its effect on eThekwini’s water supply; and
• A meeting with uMngeni Water, the department of water and sanitation, as well as the municipalities of Msunduzi, uMngeni, uMgungundlovu and eThekwini to discuss steps being taken to prevent a greater water crisis.
Speaking to the Mail & Guardian on Wednesday, Schoeman said she had written the letter driven by a “profound sense of urgency”.
“We are living through times where the stakes couldn’t be higher, and it feels as though our government and state-owned companies seemingly fail to grasp the magnitude of the challenges,” Schoeman said.
“The violent unrest of 2021 still weighs heavily on us all. So many in our community are still grieving the loss of loved ones, and the emotional scars left by that week have not healed. We live each day with a deep sense of fear.”
She said the effect of eThekwini’s infrastructure failure over the past three years had been “disastrous” and as a professional in the property market for 22 years, business had never been this bad.
“High interest rates have compounded the strain on the property market, but in eThekwini, the challenges go deeper. People no longer want to invest here, fearing the degradation of infrastructure and the lack of meaningful solutions.
“Water is life, and once our water sources are compromised, the cost of securing access will be unbearable for most. Some have already capitalised on the water crisis by establishing a lucrative revenue stream in providing alternative water supply.
“We’re already seeing the elderly in our community making impossible choices between basic hygiene and the ability to afford food. This is the cost of living in eThekwini today — where many sacrifice their dignity just to survive,” Schoeman said.
eThekwini metro spokesperson referred questions regarding the residents’ letter to uMngeni-uThukela Water, which had not responded at the time of publication.
However, uMngeni-uThukela Water said in a statement last week that the increased volumes of algae had clogged the filters of the Durban Heights Water Works and it was working to rid the water of excess algae.
“Our water quality monitoring has also been increased in order to detect and act against the presence of algae in raw water from the Albert Falls-Nagle Dam system. While the situation has not yet normalised, there are promising signs of a decrease in the algal count.”
Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the Presidential eThekwini Working Group set up in February, comprising “key stakeholders from all levels of government”, has made some progress “supported by the new mayor and other leaders who have been brought in to assist the metro”.
The departments of water and sanitation, forestry, fisheries and the environment and cooperative governance and traditional affairs and Msunduzi municipality had not responded to questions by the time of publication.