Durban's water crisis: Communities demand action amid soaring distribution losses
Image: Paballo Thekiso
While Durban communities grapple with prolonged water outages the eThekwini Municipality has recorded a 57.81% in water distribution losses
In an eThekwini Finance Committee, April 2025, report the municipality stated that this loss was above the norm which is 15 to 30%. The municipality blamed illegal water connections, ageing infrastructure and damage to infrastructure due to the floods.
On Thursday, the Reservoir Hills Ratepayers Association (RHRA) demanded immediate action and responses concerning the ongoing and unresolved water supply failures that have affected large parts of Clare Estate and Reservoir Hills.
This included an outage on 5 May 2025, which left surrounding communities without water for extended periods. Yogesh Naidoo, Director of RHRA stated that failures are not isolated or unforeseen.
Naidoo stated that between 9 January 2025 and 29 January 2025, RHRA issued multiple urgent notices to the municipality detailing:
•Over 60 burst pipes reported within days
•Repeated supply disruptions, some exceeding 10 days
•Failed or substandard repairs leading to immediate re-bursts
•Lack of skilled personnel, Pressure Relief Valve (PRV) regulations, and basic resources (e.g. backfill and asphalt)
•Nightly cut-offs allegedly linked to the Sherwood 3 Reservoir without public explanation
•Total breakdown of the municipality's complaint logging and response systems (call centre, WhatsApp app).
'Dating from January 2025,the Water and Sanitation Department has repeatedly ignored or inadequately responded to warnings by the ratepayers and ward 23 Councillor Alicia Kissoon,' he said.
Naidoo said that despite these documented failures, including requests to inspect PRVs and commission unutilised infrastructure built at public expense, no substantive response or action plan has ever been received by RHRA.
Naidoo said that the RHRA demanded a comprehensive report outlining The specific cause of the 5 May 2025 outage
The current operational status of Sherwood 3 Reservoir and Wiggins Waterworks
Details of any planned repairs, scheduled upgrades, or supply interruptions
The name and contact details of the senior official responsible for this infrastructure
A detailed log of all reported pipe bursts and unresolved complaints in Ward 23 from 1 January 2025 to date, including steps taken.
Meanwhile, concerned resident Musaddiq Ebrahim said that the Bonela and Chesterville community had been experiencing water outages with some days having no supply at all. Ebrahim said the community is at breaking point which led to residents of Chesterville, who are also connected to the same reservoir, resorting to blocking the N2 freeway on multiple occasions out of frustration.
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