The Usuthu Water Purification Plant in KwaZulu-Natal is undergoing a massive R19m expansion to increase output by 20 mega-litres per day.

The plant and several reservoirs based in Nongoma were initially commissioned in 2015, at a projected cost of around R116 million, by the Zululand District Municipality as part of a long-term project to deal with the water and sanitation needs of the community, which had been aggravated by the severe drought.

The project was divided into two phases, which would take two years to complete.

Bradley Chamont, a managing member at Plasti-Tech Piping Systems, one of the contracting companies working on the piping aspect of the project, said that there will be many companies who are experienced in the water sector coming on board the water purification expansion project.

Mpiyakhe Hlatshwayo, who was the municipality’s mayor at the time that the purification plant was first installed, said that the project formed part of the municipality’s programme to deliver fresh water services to communities that had been suffering without or with very little water for some time.

“The situation was aggravated by the severe drought that continues to affect the whole district and the province of KwaZulu-Natal,” he had said.

Hlatshwayo also handed over a contract to construction company Stefanutti Stocks for the building of a three mega-litre concrete reservoir and an access road worth R38.8 million for the Nongoma community when construction was first started on the plant in 2015.

“This forms part of our programmes to deliver water services to our communities which had been suffering for some time,” he said. “The situation was aggravated by the severe drought that continues to affect the whole district and the province of KwaZulu-Natal.”

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