Enabled And Innovative Growth
Umgeni Water is a state-owned business enterprise that was established in 1974 to supply drinking water in bulk to the municipalities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg and to consumers in the corridor of these cities. The organisation has grown over the years to become the largest bulk potable water provision entity in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal and the second-largest water utility in South Africa.
Umgeni Water, the group, currently has a total of 1 231 personnel at its various sites. Most of them are involved in all of the functional areas of Umgeni Water: finance, asset management, planning of projects, project management, water quality, water resource management and environmental science and management.
Expansion
The service area of Umgeni Water was extended in December 2015 to cover the entire Province of KwaZulu-Natal, amounting to 94 359 square kilometres. There are 54 municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, 43 of which are local municipalities, ten are district municipalities and one is a metro.
Fourteen of these municipalities are Water Services Authorities, as determined by the Water Services Act. Of these Water Services Authorities, seven are customers of Umgeni Water. They are eThekwini Metro, Msunduzi Local Municipality, iLembe District Municipality, Ugu District Municipality, Harry Gwala District Municipality, uMgungundlovu District Municipality and uThukela District Municipality.
Umgeni Water’s involvement in uThukela District now means the organisation will cover 44% of the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, from its original 32%, and the water it treats and supplies will ultimately reach 73% of the Province’s population of 11.1 million people, or 29 million households.
Core Functions
The key activities of Umgeni Water, as defined in the Water Services Act (Section 29), are to provide water services (bulk potable/drinking water and sanitation services) to water services authorities (municipalities).