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 Acknowledgements must also go to Percy Larkan and Eric Richmond, who together produced an unpublished record of early water supply in the Durban-Pietermaritzburg area, which Hawkins and this book used.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