UMGENI WATER
Umgeni serves communities
Umgeni Water was established in June 1974 to supply bulk treated water to municipalities in its designated operational area. Over the years the organization has grown into the largest bulk water supplier in KwaZulu-Natal and has an operational area of 21 155 square kilometres. Umgeni Water's capabilities include water cycle management fromsource to sea, and the treatment of waste water. The organisation prides itself in its integrated and holistic approach to planning and implementation of water and environmental management services.
The organisation works in accordance with the Water Services Act (Act 108 of 1997) and the Public Finance Management Act (Act 1 of 1999), amongst others, and its Executive Authority is the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs.
Umgeni Water specifically focused on initiatives directed at improving and building sound long-termrelationships based on appropriate interactions with key stakeholders, including the Executive Authority, the Portfolio Committee for Water and Environmental Affairs, the Department of Water Affairs, premier
of the provincial government of KwaZulu-Natal and executive mayors and managers of municipalities, among others. The success of the relationship developed with the provincial government of KwaZulu-Natal resulted in Umgeni Water being invited to participate in the Provincial Cabinet Lekgotla, where a decision was taken to develop a strategy for the sustainable delivery of bulk potable water to the entire Province of KwaZulu-Natal. Umgeni Water will contribute to the development of this strategy.
BULK POTABLE WATER
The organisation derives its revenue fromthe sale of bulk potable water to its customers, which comprise six municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, namely, eThekwini Metro, iLembe District Municipality, Sisonke District Municipality, uMgungundlovu District Municipality, Ugu District Municipality and Msunduzi
Local Municipality. A total of 426 million kilolitres per annum of potable water is currently supplied to customers.
INFRASTRUCTURE
The organisation is dependent on reliable infrastructure to provide assurance of supply to its customers. The infrastructure assets that the organisation owns, or manages comprise:
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Approximately 632 kilometres of pipelines
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118 kilometres of tunnels
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Twelve dams
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Twelve water works
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Five wastewater treatment works
These include: Five dams managed on behalf of the Department of Water Affairs, two dams managed on behalf of the Ugu District Municipality two water works managed on behalf of the Ugu District Municipality, and one waste water works managed on behalf of the Umgungundlovu District Municipality.
A further eighteen treatment water works, seven off-site reservoirs, nineteen boreholes and one untreated water supply scheme, are managed on behalf of the iLembe District Municipality.
COMMUNITY WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION
Umgeni Water is a strategic role player in the socioeconomic development of the region. Its desire to serve the disadvantaged population led the organization to take a leadership role in community water supply and sanitation. It is recognised that a significant amount of work remains to be done at local, regional and national levels in order to ensure equity is achieved in the provision of water services. This role resulted in Umgeni Water's driving force shifting from being product-based to being people centred with a bigger social agenda put on the mainstream. Umgeni Water strives in doing "business unusual" to tackle the ills of poverty, provide sustainable water solutions, implement more sanitation projects, raise environmental awareness, create
job opportunities, and provide engineering and project management skills to deliver on non-related business in support of government's initiatives.
