Water crisis worsens on KZN South Coast as taps remain dry

The Ugu District Municipality says relief is imminent, but residents remain sceptical. By Tony Carnie

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Forty-one — that's the number of days that residents of the KwaZulu-Natal Lower South Coast have had some semblance of running water from their taps this year.

This is according to Banners Rest resident and former municipal councillor Dave Watson, who has been keeping a spreadsheet calendar on water cutoffs and interruptions since 2022. Watson said the last time his area had an uninterrupted water supply for longer than 24 hours was last year. During the current outage, Watson has been without water for 32 days.

"This is a new record for us in Banners Rest, after more than three years of no water supply or inadequate water supplies," he said.

In response to queries from Daily Maverick on Monday, 18 August, the Ugu District Municipality said: "It is anticipated that water supply will be restored to Leisure Bay, Glenmore, Port Edward and Banners Rest by this evening or early tomorrow."

But residents were not holding their breath. A 12-hour electricity shutdown at the Umtamvuna water treatment works led to water cutoffs that have dragged on for weeks, to the frustration of nearly 190,000 residents living between Port Edward in the south, Southbroom in the north and in inland areas that include Izingolweni, KwaXolo and KwaNzimakwe.

"Tomorrow never seems to come," said DA ward councillor Stephanie Breedt.