Page 90 - UGU Dstrct Mun IDP Report '21-22

3.5 Basic Service Delivery
The Ugu District Municipality is authorized in terms of the Municipal Structures Act (Act No. 117 of 1998) and the Municipal Structures Amendment Act (Act No. 33 of 2000) as the Water Services Authority for its area of jurisdiction and therefore has a duty, as assigned to it in terms of the Water Services Act (Act No. 108 of 1997), to all consumers or potential consumers to progressive ensure efficient, affordable, economical and sustainable access to water services. Ugu WS has been mandated to perform the water services provision function and is therefore also the Water Services Provider (WSP) including the functions of bulk water provision, water reticulation, sewerage services and bulk wastewater collection and treatment to the towns and villages in its area of jurisdiction.
3.5.1 Water Service Provision
It is important to state from the onset that the gaps in the levels of services include a rural/urban national design standard, which affects the rural area increasingly because the level of service required in the rural area increases annually and the actual level of service cannot keep up with the demand. This trend will continue until service levels are equalised. Furthermore, aged water and sanitation infrastructure, lack of capacity of key treatment plants continues to be challenges and result in many interruptions and service delivery challenges. A turnaround strategy has been adopted by Council to turn the water and sanitation services around. This will require approximately R 2 billion and will take between 3 and six years to accomplish.
The key programmes around this still present challenge for the urban coastal strip are:
• Refurbishment of sanitation infrastructure;
• Waterborne sanitation - only 18% reticulated;
• Septic and Conservancy tanks - 16%;
• Augmentation of water bulk supply schemes;
• Development of water resources (Dams); and
• Sustainable sanitation for low cost housing projects.
• Turnaround strategy
The major infrastructure for water services therefore includes the Dams 7; Pipelines 4 300 km (estimate); Reservoirs 153; Pump Stations 125; Water Treatment Works 18; and Wastewater Treatment Works 20.
3.5.2 Existing Water Infrastructure
As indicated in the Water Service Development Plan the existing water infrastructure suggests that the formal urban coastal areas have well developed bulk infrastructure and networks and historically was the focus for infrastructure development in the District. The coastal areas remain the highest concentration of the population and are also the main economic centres for the District. Infrastructure development in the rural areas was historically done in a haphazard manner and this resulted in several standalone rural water schemes that many times are supplied from unsustainable water sources. The Regional master planning initiatives that were completed in 2006 corrected the lack of planning in the rural areas and shifted the focus towards the implementation of more sustainable Regional Water schemes. The recently adopted Water Services Master Plan addresses the bulk water supply to ensure long term sustainability.
Furthermore, a number of bulk supply sources (water treatment works or external bulk supply sources) that form the basis of the current and future water supply systems in the District were identified. Each one of the bulk supply sources supplies a specific zone that could be ring fenced and used as the basis for further analysis. These supply zones were not always clearly definable, especially in the urban areas where several interconnections exist to allow certain areas to be supplied from more than one bulk supply source. Nonetheless an attempt was made to ring fence back-to-back supply zones that cover the entire District. The supply zones also formed the building blocks for the development of the water demand model and the water demands were ring fenced within the supply zones and linked back to the respective bulk supply sources. The water demands could then be compared with the ability of the bulk infrastructure and water sources to meet the current and future water demands.
3.5.3 Water Delivery Standards
The water supply to the District is derived from dams, rivers, ground water and bulk purchases from eThekwini and Umgeni Water. The water is then treated at several treatment plants, owned by Ugu before being distributed to households. Distribution of water
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