Durban – After 3 months without water in parts of oThongathi, eThekwini Municipality said construction to rebuild the oThongathi Water Treatment Plant began on Wednesday.
The municipality said the project, which will cost about R31 million, is set to be completed by October.
The water treatment plant was completely destroyed during the devastating floods in the province in April.
oThongathi and Umdloti were among the hardest hit areas.
Once the rebuilding was completed, the community would have full access to water, the municipality said.
In addition, jobs will be created with half of the workforce for the project coming from the community.
According to local ward councillor Yogis Govender, many areas were still without water and relied on JoJo tanks.
She said the challenge lay with filling the tanks every day.
One of the problems faced was a power failure at the Hazelmere waterworks.
“Tanker refills were being redirected to Springfield, so there was a waiting period for tank to fill and come back,” she said.
Govender said some wards have about 120 JoJo tanks that needed to be filled.
Resident Jason Chetty, who lives in Maidstone, has resorted to putting a borehole in his yard which also helps other residents.
“I couldn’t run a business and fetch water so I decided to put a borehole.”
Chetty said the elderly were struggling with carrying water long distances.
Gift of the Givers installed 15 boreholes in oThongathi in June.
The boreholes, which have been placed at schools and temple yards, yield between 1 500 and 7 200 litres of water per hour.
IOL