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National Water week kicks off

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Sunday marks the beginning of the National Water week. It is an awareness campaign reiterating the value of the precious resource.

While a number of provinces are still suffering from a crippling drought, KwaZulu-Natal is on the long dusty road to recovery.

Water supports development and contributes to the economy and job creation.

Ashley Starkey is trying to manage this scarce resource wisely. He is the provincial head of the Department of Water and Sanitation in KZN.

Starkey says over the past three years the province has received an average of 25% less rainfall.

Over 2000 boreholes had to be drilled. Although recent rains and mitigation strategies have helped as dam levels are sitting at around 60% the province is not yet out of the woods.

“We are monitoring two systems, the Umhlatuze system which is the Richards Bay area and the Umgeni system which feeds Pietermaritzburg to Ethekwini. The Umhlatuze system, currently will still have them at level 3 restrictions, the Goedertrouw dam is sitting at about 37%. We are currently transferring water from Tugela river to the Goedertrouw dam and that will ensure that we have greater assurance of supply for the Richards Bay industrial area coming to the Umgeni system, Midmar dam. Spring grove is over 100%, however, Albert falls is sitting at 27%,” Starkey says.

Consumers are being urged to pay their water bills. This will help service and maintain water systems and develop new water resources.

“If you look at the pricing for water, the average price for the end consumer is about R19 per kilolitre which means it’s R19 for 1000 litres that arrive at the tap in a home. When you compare that to bottled water, you are buying a half a litre for R9 and we are selling a 1000 litres for R19,” says Umgeni Water Acting Chief Executive, Thami Hlongwa

South Africa is a water-scarce country so every drop counts.

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