EThekwini Municipality Mayor, Councilor Cyril Xaba has announced immediate interventions to address the city’s escalating water crisis. Speaking during an Executive Committee (EXCO) meeting, Mayor Xaba emphasized that water challenges will remain a permanent agenda item until the situation improves.
The continuous crisis root from severe system inefficiencies, rising water reduction, and consumption levels exceeding the contracted supply from the Umgeni-uThukela Water Board (UUWB). Since October 2024, UUWB has progressively reduced the city’s water abstraction by 108 megaliters per day to align with contracted volumes.
The mayor stressed the issue of root causes prompting water crisis in the city, referring to the 2019/20 financial year.
The total bulk water System Input Volume (SIV) for the 2019/20 financial year was 362,046,895 kiloliters per year. However, in the same period, the recorded consumer sales volume of water on RMS were averaged at 117,340,525 kiloliters per year, accounting for 51% water loss, equating to R1.7 billion loss in revenue.
In a statement released by the eThekwini Municipality on Tuesday, 11 February 2025, the city’s water utility has since suffered R4.03 billion in lost sales over the last two years.
Adding to crisis, cash collections for water services have plummeted from 97% in 2017/18 to just 67% in 2022/23. During the same period, non-revenue water increased from thirty percent to fifty percent. Xaba emphasized the root cause of the problem is severe system leakages, debunking the notion that demand has increased.
Our scientists must guide us correctly. Yes, we must apply stricter water management measures to dampen the uptake, but we need to rapidly step our measures to combat pure water loss.
The mayor stressed that water losses directly affect the financial viability and sustainability of the service and have proved to have a debilitating impact on the city’s ability to generate income and operate a viable water service.
To address the matter, Xaba has instructed the City Manager to present a comprehensive Water and Sanitation Turnaround Strategy Business Plan. The plan will focus on detecting and repairing leaks, installing meters in informal settlements and rural areas, replacing outdated commercial and residential meters, improving billing processes, enforcing credit control, and strengthening contract management for meter reading.
The City Manager is expected to present the detailed Business Plan to EXCO in the coming weeks.
