e r 2 - Umgeni Water

Chapter| Water ResourcesLower Mkomazi Bulk Water Supply SchemeUmgeni Water has commissioned Phase 1 of its South Coast Pipeline that transfers potable water from the MgeniSystem to the Upper and Middle South Coast areas. It is recognised that the Mgeni System has insufficientresources to support this region in the medium to long-term and that a local sustainable long-term scheme needsto be developed to replace it. The Mkomazi River is best suited for this purpose. Umgeni Water intends initiating adetailed feasibility investigation of the Lower Mkomazi Bulk Water Supply scheme, which will abstract water fromthe lower reaches of the Mkomazi River for treatment to feed into the South Coast Pipeline.The availability of a local sustainable source will then allow the extension of this pipeline (Phase 2) furthersouthwards to increase the area of supply and enable a linkage to other supply systems in the south. It is unknownat this stage whether storage will be required. The initiation of this investigation can only proceed once the resultsfrom the hydrological study that forms part of DWA’s Mkomazi Water Project Detailed Feasibility Study areavailable.Mhlabatshane Bulk Water Supply SchemeUmgeni Water is currently constructing the Mhlabatshane Bulk Water Supply Scheme as part of a larger regionalscheme development by Ugu District Municipality aimed at reducing water services backlogs in certain rural areasin the Mzumbe and Hibiscus Coast Local Municipalities. This scheme is situated within the Lower South Coast Sub-Region. Ugu District Municipality is responsible for the reticulation component of the scheme, which in itsentirety, is planned to serve an estimated 101,000 people (approximately 15,300 households) of which about halfare currently classified as having a water service backlog.The bulk component of the scheme will initially comprise of a dam on the Mhlabatshane River (a tributary of theMzumbe River), from where water will be pumped to a water treatment works situated in close proximity to thecommand reservoir. Potable water will then be supplied to Ugu District Municipality from the command reservoirfor reticulation through an extensive gravity-fed network to the various communities in the area. Some of thereticulation component currently exists as stand-alone schemes, with the remainder still to be installed.When water demands from this scheme exceed the firm yield of the dam, the intention is to develop the secondphase of the project. Water will be abstracted directly from the Mzimkhulu River, pumped to the existing watertreatment works (which will need to be upgraded) and then fed into the reticulation system via the commandreservoir.7.4.4 Alternate Resource OptionsWastewater ReuseUmgeni Water is currently investigating the option of treating domestic sewage from its Darvill WastewaterTreatment Works to potable standards. The proposal is to return the treated water back into the distributionsystem at Umlaas Road. The water can then be used to augment the supply to the Western Aqueduct which willserve the high growth areas along the western corridor of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality. Theadvantage of this is that water is made available higher up in the system and can therefore be supplied usinggravity.Seawater DesalinationUmgeni Water has recently completed a large-scale desalination pre-feasibility study. The objective of this studywas to investigate the viability of constructing a large scale desalination plant in the eThekwini area as a possiblealternative to the proposed Mkomazi Water Project.A detailed feasibility study has now been initiated by Umgeni water with a revised approach. The detailedfeasibility investigation is considering the option of a 150,000 cubic metres per day plant on both the North CoastPage 38 Umgeni Water Five-Year Business Plan | 2011/2012 to 2015/2016