Minister to check how municipalities spent money in last five years

“We will check in all municipalities how they spent the money in the past five years.”

The Department of Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu said this after assessing the Darville sewer pipeline in Sobantu on Friday. The pipeline is responsible for intermittent sewage spillages in the Msunduzi River.

“All municipalities have a municipality infrastructure grant, regional bulk water grant and water services infrastructure grant. They need to check which part of the money they will take from these grants. In some cases, municipalities sometimes take money for water, infrastructure and sanitation and use it for other things. One of the reasons why we were left behind in terms of sewerage is because it was neglected, and pipes rusted and were not replaced. We need to have programmes to replace old infrastructure,” said the minister.

This risky pipeline is 400 meters from the Darville Wastewater Treatment Works and needs urgent intervention to improve water quality and restore people’s dignity. A decision is being taken to implement immediate interventions to stop any further pollution of the Msunduzi River. One of the interventions is to stop using the leaking pipe and redirect sewerage water to another existing old pipe. Mchunu said sewage will be diverted from the risky pipe to the old one which seems to be intact and can hold for some time.

A long-term plan has been put in place to replace the aging pipes and will be implemented by the Msunduzi Local Municipality.

“There needs to be a replacement of the functional pipe which is our main concern. The risk comes in a form a pipe collecting sewage from all over the city bursting and polluting uMsunduzi River which runs to iNanda Dam in Durban. The issue of diverting sewage is an immediate thing and will take a week. Then we will deal with the medium-term issue which is the replacement. It will not take a long time,” said Mchunu.

The minister also highlighted that there are water challenges in some areas and all of them need to be attended to in due course.

“We will also be going to be looking at boreholes. We have to sit with districts to deal with matters that are relevant both on bulk and reticulation. The report from uMsunduzi also indicated risks in of this pipeline. People walk on pipes which is extremely dangerous if you include the manholes that are open on both ends. People use the bank of the river on the southern side and throw rubbish. There is someone who is also building a house on the riverbank which is outside the map. The city needs to attend to all these things,” he said.

Mchunu said both pipelines must be fenced, and people must be told not to use the area as a shortcut.

Water authority manager in Msunduzi Municipality, Mike Greatwood, said the old pipeline was built in 1955. He added that when the new one was built in 1977, they closed the old one off.

“It is no longer functional but is operational in the way that we can move some of the flow into it to reduce the stress on the new pipeline. When you design a sewer, it should normally flow at 50% full but that doesn’t happen. Currently, it is probably flowing at 70% full. To reduce the stress, there is a medium-term solution which is to divert some of flow to the old pipe so that both pipes carry sewage to the sewer works on the other side so that the new pipe is not stressed so much,” he said.

“We have checked the thickness of the walls of the new pipe and, it has lost a lot of its strength to hold itself. The condition of the old pipe is fine. It might have few leaks, but it is covered with blue straps. Residents of Sobantu walk on these pipelines and use them as a short cut. We could put barbed wire but residents will remove it,” he added.

Msunduzi Municipality Mayor Mzimkhulu Thebolla said the situation in Sobantu is unacceptable, but it is beyond their control at the moment. “There were many projects to teach people about illegal dumping. Sobantu is one of the places that we collect waste religiously. There is no need for them to throw waste on the riverbanks. If we are unable to go and collect waste, we notify the community. There is no need to pollute water. We urge the community to stop this,” he said.