Many large metros and municipalities are not prepared for extended electricity outages that disrupt the reliable supply of drinking water and sanitation services
While KwaZulu-Natal tourism authorities are reporting a bumper festive season for the province, a month of no water meant a bleak December for the hospitality sector – and the rest of the populace – on the province’s South Coast.
Tourists fled the coastal areas, businesses are reeling from paying taxes and still having to pay to source their own water and there is little progress in fixing the six year problem. It is a disaster for many.
Last week KwaZulu-Natal premier Sihle Zikalala reported up to 80% occupancy in hotels – particularly in Durban and in the Ilembe District, covering Ballito and the lower north coast – despite the lack of foreign tourists due to the flight bans imposed after South Africa reported on the Omicron Covid-19 variant.
Figures supplied by the province indicated that over the Christmas period alone, 200 000 visitors had arrived in Durban spending about R150-million and contributing approximately R350-million to the city’s GDP.
However, while the Ugu District had reported occupancy rates of up to 74% by Christmas, local business leaders said the water crisis along the South Coast in December had seen hundreds of visitors pack up and go home.
Ugu supplies water to six local municipalities along the South Coast and inland, which include the tourist towns between Hibberdene and Port Edward. The 750 000 residents have been battling for water for the past six to seven years, with the situation worsening during the December, July and Easter holiday seasons, when an influx of holidaymakers arrive on the coast.
Port Edward, Port Shepstone, Margate, Shelly Beach and Uvongo are among the towns which were left with no water for the bulk of December, with Ugu trucking water to the rural areas inland and the coastal towns to try and meet the demand.
Vijay Naidoo of the Port Shepstone Business Forum said that issues with water supply had been affecting businesses and residents for the past six to seven years and appeared to be worsening.
Naidoo said members of the chamber had reported serious losses over the December period, which is historically their busiest time of year, particularly in the hospitality and retail sector, because of the lack of water.
A massive sewage spill into the Uvongo River had exacerbated the situation as both the river and lagoon and the Uvongo Beach – a popular tourist attraction – had been closed for most of the December holiday season.
They are still closed.
Naidoo told the Mail & Guardian that visitors had cut their stays short after arriving and finding that there was no water in tourist towns along the South Coast.
“The impact on business is quite real. For any business to stay open you need to have 5 000 litres to 6 000 litres of water a day and you cannot rely on Ugu. Takeaways, supermarkets – they all cannot work without water and have to go the extra distance to find water just to stay in business,”’ Naidoo said.
“People are being forced to spend money on securing their water supply when that money could be going into developing their businesses. We have members who are now looking at moving elsewhere,”’ Naidoo said. “Why should they be forced to pay R3-million to secure their water supply when they are already paying rates for this?”
Naidoo said the tourism sector had been badly hit.
“We had people pack up after the first weekend and go home. People had booked for nine days and left after three. It’s not just the impact on the accommodation side – when people are on holiday they don’t cook,”’ Naidoo said.
Reshma Maharaj, vice president of the South Coast Chamber of Commerce, said that they had faced the same problems with water supply for six years.
“Now, especially with the pandemic and the lockdown [easing], we have seen more tourists coming through to our coastal area, which is fantastic. This is reason enough for Ugu to make sure that the water challenges are sorted out. We don’t want to lose tourists as this would have a serious impact on local businesses,”’ Maharaj said.
Faiza Shaik’s granite cutting business is dependent on water.
The Port Shepstone resident, who has been in the business for the past six years, is at her wits end.
“We have been affected very, very badly. To cut granite and do business we need water. We have invested in very expensive machinery which we can’t use,” Shaik said.
Last month Shaik was forced to outsource all of her work to a contractor in Durban and then ship the stone to her clients in Kokstad, Lusikisiki and other parts of the Eastern Cape.
“We have had to outsource the work at our own expense just to keep our clients. If I were to give you the numbers you would be shocked,”’ she said.
Shaik said that while the water situation had been particularly bad this December, the problem was an ongoing one which had worsened over the past three years.
“We can’t work. Our staff can’t come to work. We can’t carry on like this. We are trying to save money to install a water filtration system so that we can recycle water for reuse – when we have it,”’ Shaik said.
“We’ve given up on the municipality. They give us words and no action. They are quick to bill us for services we don’t receive. They charge us for water, but we still have to go and buy it. How does that work?”
(Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
Last week cooperative governance and traditional affairs MEC Sipho Hlomuka announced an R15-million investment in upgrading the St Helen’s Rock water scheme at Bhobhoyi.
A further R4-million was being spent on drilling 12 boreholes in water-scarce parts of the uMzumbe and uMuziwabantu municipalities.
Hlomuka said that more boreholes would be drilled following a decision on a mixed-use approach to water supply in Ugu, along with investment in water harvesting and desalination projects and spring protection to complement conventional water supply methods.
Hlomuka said that water demand across the district outstripped Ugu’s ability to supply it and carry out new interventions, along with repairing leaks and educating people about water use.
This would assist in alleviating the crisis, as would the fast tracking of the Umtamvuna pump station near Port Edward, progress with which had been delayed by the slow pace of Eskom upgrading the electricity supply to the area.
The pump station, serving Port Edward and Izingolweni, is expected to come on line in June.
Hlomuka said the province would continue to support Ugu through grants and through the provision of technical, governance and financial experts.
Ugu spokesperson France Zama did not respond to requests for comment.
A spokesperson for the province’s economic development, tourism and environmental affairs department said the Uvongo had been closed since 30 December because of high E. coli levels in the river.
These had been caused by the failure of two sewage pump stations, which had been damaged and were currently being repaired.
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