40 FOUR DECADES OF UMGENI WATER

A journey from water for a few, to water for all 9 780620 646376

CPW Printers Introduction

Umgeni Water is a State-owned business entity that treats and sells bulk potable water to six municipal customers in KwaZulu-Natal. This water sustains approximately 4.8 million people, while the nearly 32 million cubic metres of wastewater produced per annum from municipal systems flows into plants that are operated by Umgeni Water for treatment. The treated wastewater is then released into rivers, for ultimate storage in downstream dams.

But that’s not the end of the story.

A journey that began 40 years ago has taken Umgeni Water into adventure, discovery, drama, lessons, inventions, colourful characters, setbacks and achievements. The organisation has grown, its influence has spread, and today it’s an example of success — a far cry from the challenges and woes of the past.

At a time when service delivery is a contentious and inflammatory issue in many parts of the country, Umgeni Water is an example of how State-run entities can and should operate, while remaining financially sustainable. As long as people need water and it is produced at an affordable price, the organisation’s future seems assured, and its story should be told.

1 Acknowledgments

In writing about the early and slightly more recent history of Umgeni Water, this book has drawn on work done by Sally Frost in writing her Ph.D. thesis on the organisation, published in 2001, and Derek Hawkins, who in 1999 compiled a lively account of its first 25 years.

Acknowledgements must also go to Percy Larkan and Eric Richmond, who together produced an unpublished record of early water supply in the -Pietermaritzburg area, which Hawkins and this book used.

Thanks also to photographer Travis Cottrell, who allowed us to use his photographs of the Maphephethwa residents interviewed in the first chapter.

And finally a big thank you to all the Umgeni Water staff, past and present, who shared their insights, memories, information and photographs and helped in some way to produce this story.

This book was compiled by Shelagh McLoughlin. Unless otherwise stated all content was written by Shelagh McLoughlin and Barry du Plessis.

2 3 AFROSPICE BRANDING STUDIOS

4 Contents

Message from the Minister of Water and Sanitation Message from the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal

1. Spotlight: Maphephethwa 2014 ‘I don’t feel enslaved anymore’

Yesterday

2. Wells, roof tanks and early dams 3. A water board is born 4. Drought brings first crisis 5. Consolidation and change 6. Change of guard 7. Beginning of the end of 8. Turbulence, trials and a turnaround 9. Big push into rural areas 10. Arrival of Cromet Molepo 11. Gugu Moloi and the big clean-up 12. Road to profit 13. The rural water challenge

Today

14. Pipes, dams, tunnels and treatment works 15. Creating new sources of water 16. Driving the process 17. The pursuit of safe water 18. Embracing wastewater 19. Environment — a holistic approach 20. Part of the wider community 21. Ties that bind 22. Balancing finances 23. Plain sailing 24. Board’s-eye view

Tomorrow

25. Charting a course 26. Keeping an eye on water resources 27. Inventing solutions 28. Extreme weather 29. Finishing school for graduates 30. New professionals 31. The road ahead 32. The long view

5 Message from Nomvula Mokonyane, Minister of Water and Sanitation

ne of the key responsibilities of governments all over the world is to provide safe drinking water that is affordable and easily available. Water is a catalyst for development and the nub Oof sustainable livelihoods. Umgeni Water, which has been providing bulk water and sanitation services to an increasing number of people in the province for 40 years, has become indispensable to the needs of the water service authorities that it serves and to the populace of KwaZulu-Natal. In fact, an estimated 4.8 million consumers receive water that is treated and supplied by Umgeni Water to its six municipal customers.

Due to its splendid performance, the organisation has become a key partner in enabling the government to deliver on services that ultimately result in an improvement in the quality of life of its citizens, and sustainable economic development.

In addition to providing 440 million cubic metres of potable water each year, Umgeni Water also treats nearly 32 million cubic metres of bulk wastewater and operates and manages five wastewater treatment works. This part of its business activities is in line with the recent decision of government to develop a ten-year water and sanitation plan (2015-2025) as part of the National Development Plan.

With sanitation now under the portfolio of the Department of Water and Sanitation, we will be making use of the skills and building on the work that has already been done by entities such as Umgeni Water.

The organisation’s wastewater treatment operation flows out of its “total water strategy”, which recognises that KwaZulu-Natal’s water is all part of one system. Umgeni Water, as an advocate of integrated water resources management, makes a critical contribution to the water security of KwaZulu-Natal, as well as to the wellbeing of its people, plants and animals.

The Department of Water and Sanitation recognises the enormous capacity of this organisation. There is currently a proposal under consideration to increase Umgeni Water’s service area to incorporate parts of northern KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape which, when formally adopted, will increase its service area from 21 000 km2 to 71 000 km2. The proposed new area that will be covered will encompass 12 water service authority areas, serving nine million people living in 2.28 million households.

On behalf of the ministry, deputy minister and executive management team of the Department of Water and Sanitation, we want to take this opportunity to wish Umgeni Water all of the very best as it enters a new phase.

6 Message from Senzo Mchunu Premier of KwaZulu-Natal

t is with great pleasure that I write a message for this book, which marks forty years of Umgeni Water’s contribution to the wellbeing of the people of KwaZulu-Natal. Achieving this milestone has Idemonstrated that the organisation has been built on a strong vision and sound management. We are proud that one of Africa’s most successful water management organisations is in our province.

Our government has in recent years focused on building infrastructure and extending access of potable water to the people. Umgeni Water’s role in ensuring the provision of such a key service, particularly in the district municipalities it covers, has undoubtedly been of great significance. The accolades that have been given to , as a country with one of the best potable water supplies that can be drunk straight from the tap, is partly due to the quality of service in water management by this organisation.

7 8 CHAPTER 1 ‘I don’t feel enslaved anymore’ In the last decade Umgeni water has made providing bulk potable water to people living in rural areas a priority, and it continues to do so. Interviews with women living in a community in rural Inanda provide a snapshot of what this has meant, as they describe freedom from drudgery and the chance to improve their lives.

Maphephethwa Water Treatment Works 9 TRAVIS COTTRELL TRAVIS Joseph Mbonambi (centre) with his daughters Zanele (left) and Ningi. vone Mbonambi, a resident of time,” Yvone lamented, “so I had to go back Maphephethwa, a rural community on and forth at least three times every day to get Ythe slopes around Inanda Dam, has enough water to cook, wash and bath.” spent most of her life hauling water uphill. Her cooking pot alone used half of one of A middle-aged, stocky woman with a wide those laboriously lugged 25-litre drums – she smile, she stood outside her family’s cattle had to cook for seven people every day. And kraal and remembered how it would take half each return trip took an hour. the day just to fetch water from the nearby Mgqozi stream. One of the wives of local “I would be able to do nothing else for half of traditional councillor Joseph Mbonambi, her the day,” she said. homestead has a commanding view of the surrounding countryside, but almost all of it is Yvone lives in the aptly named Valley either below or above the family’s homestead. of a Thousand Hills. Stretching between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, this valley To get anywhere here, you either travel up or was created by water. Quartz-rich sandstone down. deposits laid down from 450 million years ago were slowly cut into by the Mgeni River and its “I could carry only one 25-litre drum at a tributaries to form a wrinkled terrain of sharp

10 hills and deep valleys that reach right down into the Precambrian layers of the earth’s crust. It makes for dramatic scenery and a memorable, twisting drive.

For its inhabitants, however, the landscape helps with one hand but hampers with the other. Water is abundant here – it’s why two major dams, Nagle and Inanda, were built in the area – and many springs, streams and rivers run between the valley’s “thousand hills”. But getting to that water has traditionally been very hard work for the locals.

The topography of the area meant that the people living on the slopes of the hills had to go down into the valleys to fetch water and then carry it back up steep inclines to their homesteads. And this had to be done daily, usually many times a day.

In another part of Maphephethwa, closer to Inanda Dam, mother-of-five Thulisile Shangase described how she used to provide for the daily water needs of her extended family’s 16 members.

“I had to wake up before the sun and go down to the river early every morning, in the dark before the cattle got there, and dig a hole in the sand of the river bank,” she explained.

“When it filled up with water, I would scoop it out with a bowl and fill the 25-litre drum and carry it back home.”

Digging the hole in the sand allowed for some filtration of the dirty river water, but people still got sick from the water sometimes. In dry times it would take longer for the hole to fill with enough water, but it usually took about an hour to get each bucket back home.

“Most days I would fetch four buckets,” Thulisile said. “I needed six or eight, but it was too tiring to get more than four.”

Ask almost anyone in the area old enough to remember life before 1999 and you’ll hear Zanele Mbonambi in the family vegetable garden. similar accounts of life before piped water. Abundant piped water makes it possible to grow enough food for 20 people, plus surplus which

TRAVIS COTTRELL TRAVIS they sell. 11 It was in that year that things changed for the better in Maphephethwa, with Umgeni Water providing bulk, potable water and eThekwini Municipality installing reticulation to standpipes in yards. Fifteen years later improvements are ongoing, with the Maphephethwa Water Treatment Works (WTW) currently being upgraded to 5Ml/day.

The joy at how piped water has changed life is almost unanimous.

“Now I can work in my garden and I have more time to clean my house,” said Yvone, smiling.

Having abundant water piped to them has enabled her family to establish an impressive vegetable garden on the steep, sandy slopes alongside their homestead. They now grow enough to sustain all 20 family members as well as a cash crop, which they sell once a month at the pension payout point.

“I can’t remember the last time I bought vegetables,” said Joseph. “Things have improved greatly.”

“Now I have time,” said Yvone laughing, “to bath and make myself look nice.”

“I’m very happy,” she added. “I don’t feel enslaved anymore.”

Thulisile echoed the Mbonambis’ happiness.

“Today I have time to see my neighbourhood,” she said cheerfully. Dressed smartly in a skirt and crisp white, collared shirt, she looked like she’d just arrived back from town.

“I can go to the clinic and go for [community improvement] meetings. I can help the kids with homework. And you see this house?” she said, holding a hosepipe in her hand and pointing to her home proudly. “We built this using this tap.” time-consuming process. Having water on tap enabled her to build a better, bigger house. She explained how building a mud-brick house is a community affair: everyone lends a “We could do in one day what would have hand. But making mud needs water and when taken a month,” she said. that water is far away, making mud bricks is a 12 Thulisile Shangase outside her family’s house that piped water enabled them to build. “Life before tap water was . . .” Thulisile shakes her head.

But not everyone is thrilled with the arrival of piped water in Maphephethwa. Kwazi Mbambo, a man in his mid to late twenties, looks back with wistful nostalgia. “You used to always find the girls down at the river,” he said. “But no more.” “Now we have to use Facebook.”

13 14 CHAPTER 2 Wells, roof tanks and early dams

15 Durban Umbilo Head Works In 1824 the first white settlers in Port Natal Based on the recommendation of Durban’s (now Durban), led by Lieutenant Francis first full-time civil engineer, JFE Barnes, work Farewell, drew water from rivers until wells began on the Umbilo Head Works in 1883 in were dug. These became polluted. the present Paradise Valley Nature Reserve in . The scheme consisted of a dam In 1854 Durban became a borough with with a storage capacity of 159 000 litres, water provided by the Town Pump, situated which was connected to a settling dam and off Anton Lembede (Smith) Street in what’s tank for clear water. now called Old Well Court. The Town Pump remained in use for some time after the first The second phase consisted of a cast iron Water Treatment Works on the Umbilo River gravity aqueduct, which carried water to three were commissioned in 1887. Up to 1887 reservoirs on the Berea. These reservoirs had residents got their water from roof tanks a combined capacity of over 1.5 million litres. and 18 wells, described as “foul” because of groundwater pollution. With normal rainfall The Umbilo Water Treatment Works scheme these yielded about 214 000 litres for the made domestic piped water possible for many 5000 residents. Durbanites but only lasted 18 years before being destroyed by floods in 1905, when the An artesian well was built in the Botanic dam wall was destroyed in 13 hours. Gardens in 1875. The well, which could supply up to 227 000 litres a day, was named Curries Umlaas Scheme Fountain after Mayor HR Currie, whose idea Borough engineer John Fletcher was the man it had been. Water from the well was piped to behind the scheme to tap the Mlazi River. The hydrants in Dr Pixley Kaseme (West) Street. scheme was built in stages, and tunnels and

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,OOXVWUDWLRQE\&90HWKYHQ:LNLPHGLD&RPPRQV conduits – the first in Natal (now KwaZulu- Pietermaritzburg Natal) – were constructed to reduce the The city’s first formal water supply system was distance between the intake and filter beds. built by the Boers in about 1844. Water was taken via a channel from the Dorpspruit for a Seven filter beds were built and when the distance of just under three kilometres along scheme was officially opened in 1894 it could Railway Street. From there it was diverted into produce 7 million gallons (31.8 million litres) furrows running past the houses of several of of water daily. Droughts and a rapid increase the main streets in town, a system that lasted in Durban’s population due to the Anglo-Boer for more than 40 years. The furrows were open War led to the construction of a temporary and consequently the water was not clean. dam on the Mlazi River at Camperdown. In 1880 a more hygienic scheme was built above Clear Water Dam the Botanic Gardens, consisting of two settling Built by refugees during the Anglo Boer War, tanks and a reservoir, which were finished a this dam near the Umlaas Filters was designed year later and were used for at least 100 years. to store 537 347 kilolitres of clarified water from the Intake Works and supplied the In 1925 the city council decided to build a new Coedmore Filters when they were built later. scheme that included a dam on the Msunduzi River, new storage reservoirs, a purification The first laboratory for chemical and works and improvements to the city’s bacteriological testing of water was built at reticulation system. Coedmore Filters in 1923. In 1919 Durban Corporation became the first water supply The purification works at the top of Morcom authority in SA to use liquid chlorine to Road was opened on November 30, 1926, while sterilise water at Coedmore Filters. the reservoirs and impounding dam, Henley Dam (500 megalitres) came into use at the end of 1927.

17 Shongweni Dam The construction of a new dam at Shongweni, which began in 1923, saw another first for the country. Although tenders were called for to drill a tunnel for an aqueduct between Shongweni and Northdene, the Durban council decided to use its own skills to build the dam. This was the largest undertaking of its kind by a local government at the time.

The site for the dam was a point 29 km from Durban where the Sterkspruit and Ugede streams joined the Mlazi. It was to cover 121,4 ha and hold 11 820 megalitres of water. The main wall was 26.5 metres high and 246 metres long, with a tunnel running along its length.

A narrow gauge railway track was laid from Delville Wood station on the main line from Durban to Maritzburg, to a terminus on the cliff above the dam site, to carry cement, pipes and other materials to the site.

A system of 762 mm diameter pipes and four tunnels were constructed to carry water over the tricky terrain between Shongweni and Northdene. The purification works at River to the Durban Heights Water Treatment Northdene was completed in July 1927 with a Works, supplied the city for eight years until capacity of 45.5 megalitres per day, until then the Mgeni System, of which Nagle Dam was the largest single increase of potable water in central, came on stream. SA. The Mgeni catchment area upstream of Table The Natal Advertiser commented that after Mountain had been identified as a suitable years of drought and concern about water spot for a dam by Durban Borough Engineer scarcity, “Durban has water galore ... not for Walter Campbell. Although the project was many a long year will the borough again be authorised by Parliament in 1937, the only brought within the shadow of a water shortage”. access to the site was the Table Mountain Road via Pietermaritzburg, so it was necessary to Nagle Dam first build another road from Harrison Flats In the 1930s Durban began running out of near to Table Mountain, a job that water again due to rapid expansion of the took two years to finish. city, and it was clear that the supply system would have to be expanded. The outbreak of The choice of site and design of Nagle war in 1939 and the resulting need for military Dam had been determined by a three-mile hospitals, convoys and transit camps made this horseshoe bend. Working with this natural worse, and the Emergency Pumping Scheme feature, it was seen that by constructing was hastily set up. a weir and diversion cutting at the neck of The scheme, which transferred 34.1 the horseshoe it would be possible to divert megalitres of water per day from the Mgeni waters in times of flood, thereby avoiding

18 &RQVWUXFWLRQRI'XUEDQ+HLJKWV$TXHGXFW

the silting up of the storage dam, a major Midmar problem in SA. Midmar Dam near Howick was came about as a result of a radical change in Department of Work began on the flood diversion weir in Water Affairs (to be referred to henceforth as August, 1941, followed by flood control Department of Water and Sanitation) policy, gates and a steel pipeline which would serve announced in 1960. All conservation works in Durban until the main dam wall was ready. its catchment area would be taken over and Work began on Nagle Dam proper in 1943 and immediate construction of a dam at Midmar progress was erratic because of the Second was to be followed by dams built at Albert World War (1939 - 1945). A ship carrying Falls, Table Mountain and Inanda. equipment from Europe for the hydro electric generating station at the dam was sunk by The farm where the dam was built was named German submarines in the Atlantic ocean by farmer Ian Mackenzie after the place in and this caused further delays. The scheme Scotland where his clan came from. The dam was finally opened in 1950. cost R4 500 000 and covered 2023 hectares, with a capacity of 159 million cubic metres. The dam wall, which was 393 metres long Its wall is on the site of Allemans Drift, where and 44,8 metres high, had a two-lane road the Voortrekkers crossed the Mgeni in 1837 on top, and its capacity when built was 22 and the dam was designed so that the wall million cubic metres. could be raised to increase storage capacity, which was done in 2003. Midmar Dam was officially opened in 1964.

19 20 CHAPTER 3: 1974 - 1983 A water board is born

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22 t was a very modest start. What was to be become a giant of African bulk water Iprovision began in 1974 with four people and hand-me-down furniture in rented offices.

For Roger Phelines, his new job as head of Umgeni Water Board (henceforth described as Umgeni Water) was a distinct change of pace. “I had been starting water schemes all over the country for many years, but always had the resources of the Department of Water Affairs behind me,” this former senior government engineer said later. “This time it was different. I had nothing and was starting from scratch. The staff complement was four – myself, a secretary, an accountant and a messenger.”1

Phelines recounted how the three offices they leased in Langalibalele (Longmarket) Street, Pietermaritzburg were “somewhat dilapidated”. Money was tight and, while the office equipment was new, the furniture was second hand. He was undaunted, however, and this no-frills start set the tone for his term of office as board chairman and chief executive.

His new position had come about because of the decision by central government to consolidate and centralize the provision of water under water boards across the country. Before 1974, South Africa’s water was provided by a range of local bodies, including municipalities, water corporations and the Department of Water and Sanitation. Pietermaritzburg and Durban each got their own water from the Mgeni River.

“This river, the major source of water for the region defined roughly by the Pietermaritzburg – Durban axis, was quite literally “up for grabs”, said Graham Atkinson, Pietermaritzburg’s City Engineer from 1978 and a member of the first board, in an interview in 2014.2 Each of the two major cities, Durban and Pietermaritzburg

23 had dams on the river. Durban had Nagle Dam (and Shongweni on the Umlaas River). Pietermaritzburg had Henley Dam on the Msundusi River, a major tributary of the Umgeni.

“In order to augment their bulk water supplies, Durban had in hand advanced plans for a further dam just upstream of the Nagle Dam, whilst the City of Pietermaritzburg had its eyes on the farm Midmar near Howick, and had begun planning for a dam at Midmar,” said Atkinson.

The central government, through the Department of Water Affairs, which was the custodian of all surface water in the country, became concerned that these plans of the two major cities took no account of the water needs of the people living outside the areas of jurisdiction of the cities.

“At worst they would be ignored or at best they would be exploited by the cities to bolster their rates account. The Government therefore stepped in and put a halt to all further dam building on the rivers concerned by the cities, and set up the Umgeni Water Board in 1974 to coordinate and rationalize the provision of bulk water in the region,” said Atkinson. 5RJHU3KHOLQHV¿UVW&(DQGFKDLUPDQRIWKHERDUGRI 8PJHQL:DWHU In future water would be managed around whole catchment areas. Central government central government interference, while cities would manage the flow of rivers and provide felt it was an infringement on their autonomy. raw water in bulk, water boards would Despite intense political opposition the eight- purify the raw water and distribute to local member board of Umgeni Water — together authorities and they in turn would distribute with 15 others elsewhere — was brought into this water to their communities. The tariff being, with its first meeting on February 6, structure was strictly controlled by the 1975. department and marked the beginning of the approval of tariffs and annual increases The districts of Durban, Pinetown, Inanda, being in the hands of the minister. Camperdown, Pietermaritzburg and Lions River were placed under its jurisdiction and In Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal), which was Phelines was appointed joint board chairman not controlled by the ruling National Party, and chief executive, a position he held for 12 this decision by the Department of Water years, with D.V. Harris, the city engineer of and Sanitation was very unpopular, seen as Pietermaritzburg, as vice chairman.

24 Getting down to business

o help it establish itself an advance of Sally Frost, in her 2001 doctoral thesis on the R145 000 was made for five years and the transformation of Umgeni Water, wrote “whilst Tnew body quickly got down to business. the organisation was very small at inception, “We had to generate income,” said Phelines. Phelines recognised that it would grow rapidly “We were suppliers of water, not storers of and would require careful technical planning. water, and therefore we decided to approach His maxim was to ‘think big’. He was forward government to purchase the major portion of thinking and encouraged initiative. the Mgeni River Government Regional Water Supply Scheme.” 3 “Over the next ten years the board acquired all the major water schemes along the Durban/ The new acquisition cost R9.7 million on a 30- Pietermaritzburg/Midlands axis, in the year loan, and would take water from Midmar interests of establishing a rational, integrated 4 Dam, treat it and supply purified water to regional water supply system.” Camperdown/Cato Ridge, Hammarsdale/ Mpumalanga and part of Pinetown. Sales of both In March, 1976 the organisation took control of raw and purified water began in September, the mid-Mgeni scheme and water sales passed 1975 and by the end of the year Umgeni Water the R1 million mark in 1977, with a total had sold 4 508 996 m3, earning R298 486. revenue of R1 441 000.

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In 1979 the water board made its second big In addition, Umgeni Water took over purchase — Pietermaritzburg’s D.V. Harris development of the Mgeni low-level scheme purification plant — followed soon by HD from the Durban city council in 1981. Hill works and Henley Dam in February, 1981, which facilitated the planning of a regional This involved building tunnels to carry water purified water pipeline from D.V. Harris to from the Mgeni River to where the Umlaas Road. Several smaller schemes were 350Ml/day Wiggins treatment plant was to be taken over at Howick and on the north coast built. and there was additional construction to beef up capacity to schemes in these areas.

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27 28 CHAPTER 4: 1974 - 1983 Drought brings first crisis

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he final year of Umgeni Water’s first Atkinson. “It refused on the grounds that decade was fraught. The drought it was ‘unnecessary’ – despite critically low Tthat had been building since the late levels of the dams and the fact that the third- seventies had become a crisis and emergency largest industrial complex in the country was measures were necessary to deal with a severe in danger of running out of water. water shortage. Temporary measures were set up to pump water from the Msunduzi River “Instead Umgeni raised the finance itself and near Nagle Dam and the Mgeni River at the built the scheme; although no sooner was it new Clermont pumping station, to supply commissioned, than the rains came. Ironically, Durban’s largest water treatment works at the scheme built at that time forms the kernel Durban Heights. of the new Spring Grove Dam at Mooi River, which can now supplement the resources of Dam levels kept plummeting — to 48% for the Mgeni system.”5 Nagle, 17% for Midmar and 2% for Albert Falls. As things got worse a scheme to pump water In the Valley of a Thousand Hills residents from the Mooi into the Mgeni was hastily teamed up with Umgeni Water to dig 13 constructed. kilometres of trenches by hand and install standpipes to bring drinking water to the area. “Initially, central government was asked This was the organisation’s first foray into by the board to fund this scheme,” said providing water for a rural black community.

30 By March, 1983 the drought was being There was relief all round but this natural described as the worst in 200 years and disaster had left its mark. Reduced water government announced that consumption consumption levels through rationing had had from Midmar and Albert Falls dams must be a serious impact on the water board’s finances, cut by 30% immediately. Water rationing was and a consequent hefty tariff increase was introduced in Durban and Pietermaritzburg necessary to fund underutilised capital in May, restricting each household to 400 l/ infrastructure. This did not go down well with day. People caught watering their gardens consumers. were fined and 7 000 runners in the Comrades Marathon that year were sponged and watered Frost wrote that “by his own admission with desalinated seawater.6 (Phelines) had little time for the press and external publicity, believing ‘one should be Rationing had the desired effect and people judged by one’s deeds’.7 Lack of comment cut their consumption dramatically. Even so, from the board about why the cost of water dam levels continued to decline — eventually had risen when consumption had gone to a total level of 9,9% in the uMngeni system down resulted in bad publicity, and Phelines — and there was talk of further restrictions. admitted later that the drought taught the Then, in early October the rains came and the organisation the value of good public relations.8 drought was finally broken. More positive results were that consumers grew accustomed to saving water and the

31 7KH GURXJKW RI  ZDV VDLG WR EH WKH ZRUVW LQ  \HDUV 3LFWXUHG LV 0DOFROP &OLIIRUG RI WKH 3LHWHUPDULW]EXUJ &LW\ (QJLQHHU¶V 'HSDUWPHQW KROGLQJ RQH RI WKH SXEOLF DZDUHQHVV SRVWHUV WKDW ZHUH ZLGHO\ GLVWULEXWHGWRHQFRXUDJHZDWHUVDYLQJ seeds of later conservation thinking were planted, while the organisation’s involvement in bringing standpipes to Hammarsdale were the beginning of a move towards rural reticulation — a move which, according to Atkinson “was frowned upon by central government” because of its apartheid beliefs.9

“At that time Umgeni Water was prevented by legislation from extending its water supplies to black areas,” said Chris Mann, Group Manager of the Valley Trust, “but the drought saw the start of a more enlightened approach among political circles, enabling Umgeni Water to assist the Valley Trust and Pinetown Regional Water to bring piped water off the ridge at Botha’s Hill into the Valley.”10 Local people eventually established their own development and services board to manage the pipeline.

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32 Roger Phelines, Chief Executive 1974-1988

Born in Durban in 1919, Roger Phelines graduated from the University of Natal as a civil engineer in 1940. He served in the SAAF and the RAF during WW2 as a navigator and after demobilisation joined the Department of Irrigation, the former name for the Department of Water Affairs (DWA), in 1946, where he was involved in constructing the Pongola canal construction scheme and Jozini Dam.

He was seconded from the DWA to steer the new water board, where employees later described him as “a man of extreme ethical standard, a benign dictator, a disciplinarian, a technocrat and a diplomat”.11

He described himself as a man who “belonged to the old school, judged a man by his deeds and felt that the staff were there to produce the end result”. He stressed frugality with public funds and technical excellence.

He saw his task as being to establish the credibility of the new water board, modelled along British bulk water supply lines. “My basic duty was to supply bulk water. Everything else was peripheral,” he said. 5RJHU3KHOLQHV²VWUHVVHGIUXJDOLW\

33 34 CHAPTER 5: 1984 - 1993 Consolidation and change

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n New Year’s Day, 1984, Umgeni “We had to negotiate to acquire their water Water took over Durban’s bulk treatment works,” said Graham Atkinson, in Owater supply. It was a major growth 2014. “Most of them were old and we felt we spurt with accompanying pain that was to should pay the book value, but they wanted characterise the next decade. Like a snake the replacement value. shedding its skin, the organisation would have to change as it responded to internal The minister had to step in and decided pressures. Outside the institution the in Durban’s favour. We had to recover the world and South Africa were also changing, money in tariffs, while Durban had all that requiring it to make internal adjustments to money to invest, earn interest and thus policy and focus. subsidize its water tariff.”13

The Durban acquisition — including With the increased infrastructure came 1 Nagle and Shongweni dams, the Umgeni 100 new employees, most of whom were Aqueducts, Durban Heights and Northdene “loyal to Durban and resentful of their Water Treatment Works and Umlaas intake new master”.14 On the plus side water sales and filters — cost over R203 million. The increased dramatically, from 42 million to sale was bitterly resented by the city and 132 million cubic metres per annum. there was a protracted tussle over the sale price.

36 There was more disruption inn January, 1984 when cyclonee Demoina crashed into thee province, destroying homes andd bridges and taking the waterr level of Midmar Dam from nearlyy zero to 70% in a few days. Twoo weeks later the smaller cyclonee Imboa dumped more water andd added to the destruction.

1984 saw the successfull completion of phase one off the Inanda Wiggins scheme,, which consisted of the 350Ml// day Wiggins Water Treatmentt Works in Cato Manor and a series of pipelines and tunnelss constructed at ,, University and Sherwood.

37 ‘Superb’ tunnelling feat

‘The first phase of the Inanda Wiggins Scheme, work on the longer of the two tunnels they which included the Wiggins Water Treatment had contracted to excavate. The operation Works and a series of pipelines and tunnels was considered by the contracting industry at Reservoir Hills, University and Sherwood, to be risky because of the high capital costs was situated in Cato Manor and designed to in relation to a comparatively short tunnel supply the lower levels of Durban. length, uncertain underground conditions and the need to tunnel along a dog-leg route. ‘Two different tunnelling methods were used on this project. Contractors used drill and blast ‘Hiring the machine reduced the risk and the techniques to sink and drive the Reservoir operation was a great success. After boring Hills and University tunnels, but the longer through the 3,3km and navigating three Sherwood tunnel was excavated using a three- curves, the huge mechanical mole broke metre diameter full-face hard-rock boring through right on target, three and a half machine specially imported into South Africa months ahead of schedule. for the purpose. The Sherwood tunnelling In contrast the shorter University tunnel, was a history-making event, described both using conventional drilling and blasting as “superb engineering” and “an exceptional methods and started at the same time, “holed feat of underground surveying”. out’ on the same day.

‘Instead of using conventional tunnelling ‘Sherwood scored in another way too — its methods, this novel solution had been uniformly smooth, regular profile stood proposed by Clifford Harris (Pty) Ltd, the out in sharp contrast to the jagged, broken Mitchell Cotts group contractors, who formed interior of the University tunnel, providing an alliance with Marti Inter, a Swiss company obvious economies for the concrete-lining with 60 years’ experience of hard-rock operations.’ tunnelling. (Extract from Nature in Harness: Umgeni ‘Together they brought from the U.S. a Water, a Brief Account of the First 25 Years, 90-tonne tunnel boring machine and set it to compiled by Derek Hawkins)

At the end of 1984 Umgeni Water had to deal “The increased statutory area was populated with an unexpected problem caused by the predominantly by rural households without drought: because consumers had become access to clean water and sanitation,” wrote more “water-wise”, consumption had dropped Frost. “It was at this time that Umgeni Water to below 70% of the corresponding month in began to set aside R500 000 per annum for 1982. It became necessary to increase the tariff rural water supply. The seeds for a strategic to cover the cost of emergency drought relief change of direction had been planted.”15 schemes (such as the R23 million Mooi-Mgeni scheme), as well as compensate for reduced The second driver of significant change was usage during the drought. the issue of privatisation, which the board had begun to discuss. In line with an international trend towards the privatising of state assets, Big leap forward other South African parastatals like Iscor and 1986 saw the organisation take a quantum leap Telkom had been cut loose and Umgeni Water in its development. The first new change came was weighing up the benefits of full or partial with the increase of its statutory area of supply independence from the state. from 3400 km2 to 7092 km2. This included the catchment areas of the Mgeni, Mlazi and Mdloti rivers.

38 Following a visit that new chief executive Government remained the major shareholder Atkinson made to recently privatised and Umgeni Water was to be self-financing, British water authorities in early 1987, the without state assistance for operational board accepted his recommendation that needs. Loans would be taken care of by two privatisation was not the way to go. “We are “megastocks” listed on the gilts board of the selling a commodity vital for human life, not Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Coca Cola!” he said).16 Instead Umgeni Water was partially commercialized, meaning it was to operate independently within the parameters set out by the Water Act.

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39 40 CHAPTER 6: 1984 - 1993 Change of guard

41 he third major change factor in the The Atkinson era eighties was Phelines’ imminent Atkinson was to significantly change the Tretirement in 1988, which provided an course of Umgeni Water. “When he arrived opportunity to alter how the board operated. he brought strategy and a more modern way As both CE and board chairman he’d been a of thinking,” said Brian Walford, who was dominant figure in the organisation for over a general manager of corporate services at the decade. With his retirement as CE this position time. “He separated functions and added more became uncoupled from that of board chairman structure. He knew where he wanted to go and and the executive function of the board ceased he went there.”18 in line with the latest corporate governance thinking. It became a purely judicial authority, One of Atkinson’s first priorities was to its function to set broad policy, approve the mend bridges with Durban’s city engineer, annual budget and monitor and exercise macro Don Macleod, who’d been on particularly control. bad terms with Barnes, such that a court case between the two was brewing. “When I In line with this separation of functions and took over, I invited Don Macleod for a cup of the move away from civil service status, the organisation changed its name to Umgeni coffee and said, we can’t work against each Water. Under the new structure it was divided other,” Atkinson recalled. “It worked, and all into coastal and inland regions with six litigation was stopped with suitable apologies 19 specialized divisions: operations, finance and from both sides.” administration, human resources, scientific services, construction and planning and design. He continued this charm offensive in the 1987 The organisation would be run by the CE and floods. Having been on the board during the a management committee called Manco, made 1983 floods, he had seen the damage done by up of six divisional directors. poor public relations and made a concerted Although Phelines would continue to serve as effort to manage public perception when the chairman of the board, his reduced authority skies opened four years later. and the ascendance of Atkinson, his successor, coinciding with external pressures, would see Extensive damage was caused to Umgeni Umgeni Water change substantially. Atkinson, Water’s infrastructure, resulting in severe who was Pietermaritzburg’s city engineer, disruptions in the supply of potable water had sat on the board since 1978 as the city’s to 1,8 million people. “People couldn’t representative, and his appointment as CE had understand why they had no water when there not gone unchallenged. was water everywhere,” Atkinson recalled.20 He established a central crisis centre and office Atkinson decided he “liked the idea of work halted while the entire staff worked day the CE position, as well as the principle of and night to help manage the disaster. regionalization which was Umgeni Water’s raison d’etre”. He resigned from the board and “As far as the staff is concerned, perhaps the applied. “Roger wanted Alan Barnes (Umgeni most significant factors were their competence Water’s chief engineer) to be CE. Barnes had and their spirit,” wrote Graham Ward, chief been his unofficial number two,” said Atkinson. engineer (operations) in Umgeni Water’s in- “But the board wanted me. The next four to house magazine, Flowmeter, afterwards. five years were not a pleasant arrangement.”17 “After a relatively short period, essential water He was appointed CE designate on January 1, supplies were restored to all our consumers. 1987, and Barnes later resigned. This was the result of an enormous team effort, coordinated here but using the assistance of many outside organisations, the SA Defence Force, Eskom, contractors and our own consumers.” 42 Graham Atkinson CE 1987-1995

Graham Atkinson stood out as a progressive technocrat, deviating from the dominant conservative mindset of his time. Asked where he got this liberal outlook, he recalled a chance encounter at the age of seven in well-to-do Musgrave Road, Durban that made an impression.

“I went to the garage down the road to get the tyres on my bike pumped up and said to the man at the garage, “Please pump up my tyres, boy.” He said to me, “I’m not a boy, I’m a man. That changed my outlook – and my life.”

Atkinson studied to be a civil engineer at Howard College and also did a post-graduate diploma in town and regional planning through the then University of Natal. He joined Umgeni Water as a board member in 1978 when he became Pietermaritzburg’s City Engineer.

“My passion has always been the mountains where at every opportunity I love to hike,” he said. “I am also a keen traveller, preferring unusual destinations such as the Amazon jungle, crossing Australia by train or exploring remote mountain villages in the Alps. He has two sons who farm in Mozambique and Ballito, a daughter who lives near Chicago and eight grandchildren. He lost his wife of 48 years to cancer in 2013.

He was a member of the KZN Planning and Development Commission from 1998 to 2004 and re- Graham Atkinson in 2014 joined the board of Umgeni Water in 2009. ‘Greatest natural disaster in SA history’ ‘Called the greatest natural disaster in South ‘The rains leading to the floods steadily built African history, the Natal floods of September up from the night of Friday, September 25, 1987 claimed at least 400 lives, saw hundreds of and by Monday night it became obvious that properties washed away or badly damaged and a very serious situation was developing. By disrupted road, rail and air traffic throughout Tuesday morning 11 of the 13 WTWs operated the province. An estimated 460 000 people by Umgeni Water were out of commission. were left homeless. The heavens had opened . . . there was water everywhere, except in the crippled aqueducts ‘Howick Falls ‘looked like Niagara Falls, huge and storage reservoirs. Durban was facing a bridges, including the John Ross Bridge on the critical water shortage. lower Thukela River, collapsed or were severely damaged as the rivers rose to unprecedented ‘Reports of flood damage and disruption were heights, and people climbed on to the rooftops pouring in from all over Natal (KwaZulu-Natal). of home or factories to save themselves from No trains were running because of mudslides the raging floodwaters. and washaways. Both Louis Botha Airport and Durban Harbour were closed to traffic.

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44 A spokeman for the Port Captain’s office said conditions at the entrance were so bad that ships What I remember could not risk coming through it.

‘By Wednesday, September 30, Durban’s local authorities were preparing to cut off residential water supplies if flood-damaged bulk pipelines could not be repaired quickly. According the Daily News, all four bulk lines from Nagle Dam to the city were damaged by the floodwaters and engineers had been battling around the clock to repair them.

‘By Thursday, October 1, Durban’s water crisis had eased slightly — one aqueduct from Nagle Dam was back in service and at 4 am the next morning the first water for days flowed into the city’s reservoirs.

‘Despite this the domestic water supply in many parts of Durban finally ran out and civil defence teams were out in force controlling rationing from taps fitted to fire hydrants in the streets.

‘Pietermaritzburg was under double threat as -LPP\ /RPD[  \HDUV ZLWK 8PJHQL :DWHU a main supply pipe burst and extra demand VXSHULQWHQGHQWRI+D]HOPHUH:7: depleted resources. The raw water pumpstation supplying the Howick Water Treatment Works µ,WZDVWKHHQGRI6HSWHPEHU7KHUHZDVD was flooded by the rising waters of the Mgeni, VWHDG\GUL]]OHIRUDERXWDZHHNDQGDKDOIDQGWKH while the pre-stressed concrete pipeline supplying JURXQGZDVVDWXUDWHGZLWKZDWHU7KHQZHJRWD water from Midmar Dam to the D.V. Harris works KHDY\GRZQSRXURIUDLQDQGWKH0GORWL5LYHUZDV in Pietermaritzburg was fractured at a stream OLNHDVOHHSLQJJLDQWWKDWKDGEHHQZRNHQXS crossing.’ µ7KHULYHUOHYHOSLFNHGXSDQGPDQ\DUHDVFORVH Edited extract from ‘Nature in Harness’, compiled WRLWJRWÀRRGHG8PJHQL:DWHU¶VJUDYLW\OLQHIURP by Derek Hawkins. +D]HOPHUH'DPZDVZDVKHGDZD\DQGZHFRXOG QRWJHWUDZZDWHULQWRWKHSODQW:HLPSURYLVHG DQGLQVWDOOHGDODUJHVXEPHUVLEOHSXPSLQWRWKH ULYHUZKLFKZDVFRQQHFWHGWRWKHUDZZDWHUOLQH +RZHYHU ZH FRXOG QRW JHW ZDWHU LQWR WKH SODQW DVDQLVRODWLQJYDOYH ,9 RQWKHUDZZDWHUOLQH QHHGHGWREHFORVHG¿UVW

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47 48 CHAPTER 7: 1984 - 1993 Beginning of the end of Apartheid

49 nother important attribute that Keerath, and first woman, P.A. Reid. On the Atkinson had was his ability to read the macro level the country was in a state of Awinds and align Umgeni Water with the insurrection and Umgeni Water was directly rapidly changing social and political landscape affected by the bitter war between the Inkatha of the country, which was to be the fourth big Freedom Party and United Democratic Front driver of change for the organisation in its (the internal “wing” of the still-banned African National Congress). There was a huge influx second decade. Although the dramatic events of refugees into its catchment areas and work of the early 90s were still to come, cracks were sites. appearing in the apartheid monolith. Despite this outer turmoil the late 80s and Atkinson was a self-proclaimed liberal and with early 90s were a time of prosperity and good an ally in new board chairman, Ken McDonald, standing for the organisation. Water sales the organisation began to move away from were increasing steadily in a monopolistic official state policies, which fitted with the environment and the organisation was shift towards partial commercialization. flush with money. It also won a number of “When I joined even the tea lady had to have prestigious awards. Atkinson worked hard to her salary grade approved by the minister,” change the image of the institution with its civil service, DWA past, and created a public said Atkinson. “McDonald was a liberal and relations department in 1988. A schools water said this is nonsense. Over the time I was education programme developed by Stephen there we weaned ourselves off our dependency Camp raised public awareness about water on the government. We said we’d run it on quality and sanitation, and helped burnish the commercial lines.” image of Umgeni Water. On December 20, 1986, a new board was In breaking with the past was appointed with its first Indian member, M.H. dropped as one of the languages of the

6WHYH&DPSGHPRQVWUDWHVRQHRIWKHZDWHUTXDOLW\WHVWNLWVWKDWJDLQHGJOREDOUHFRJQLWLRQ A world-class test kit for schools Schoolchildren were taught basic aspects of water management using a low-cost test kit In 1991 water test kits developed for use in that enabled the testing of E.coli bacteria and work done with schools became so popular another that tested nitrate, pH and oxygen they “went global”. The kits were developed levels. Local teachers and environmental for use in Project Water (Water Awareness groups were enthusiastic about the kits and Through Educational Response), an their popularity spread to other countries in environmental awareness scheme launched Africa and the rest of the world, with orders in conjunction with the Wildlife Society and received from Poland, India, Venezuela, the Natal Parks Board. U.S. and England.

50