eThekwini Municipality upgrades Ntuzuma Reservoir 2 pump station for enhanced water supply

The eThekwini Municipality has completed upgrades to the Ntuzuma Reservoir 2 pump station, north of Durban, on Wednesday. 

The pump station was destroyed by a fire in April 2023, with an estimated R56 million allocated towards the upgrade of the entire pump station. The upgrades are expected to improve the supply of water to residents of Inanda, Ntuzuma, and KwaMashu (INK) and surrounding areas. 

eThekwini Mayor, Councillor Cyril Xaba, stated that the pump station was not operating at full capacity as the pumps had reached their design life, which was further exacerbated by a fire in 2023. 

He said that emergency repairs were undertaken to restore functionality to a small section, while the functional upgrade of the entire facility was under way.

“The upgrade enhanced the mechanical and electrical components of the pump station and has increased its performance and reliability. This marks the municipality’s progressive measures to improve service delivery in the water supply environment,” Xaba said. 

The station has 15 pumps and standby pumps to assist in case of any challenge. It includes technology to be able to identify faults before they cause challenges.

Equipped with cutting-edge technology, the upgraded pump station features high-efficiency pumps, automated control systems, and real-time monitoring tools designed to optimise performance and reduce operational downtime.

The pump station now operates in fully automated mode and enables the control room to monitor its operation and respond to faults.

Xaba urged the community to safeguard water infrastructure against vandalism, as this results in the interruption of the water supply.

“Some areas are experiencing intermittent water supply due to continuous vandalism of infrastructure on the network, which includes damage to pressure-reducing valves,” Xaba said. 

According to the recent status of water supply report for November 2025, the eThekwini Water and Sanitation (EWS) unit also completed the following:

• The new Northern aqueduct project, valued at R3 billion, aims to augment supply in the Northern areas. The aqueduct has been commissioned to Avoca and Phoenix.
• A new rising main from Hazelmere to Grange.
• The city has also recommissioned the augmenting pumping main from Grange to Mt View Reservoir to supplement the Verulam system, which was severely impacted by extended water outages. In addition, the Grange to Mt View pumps were recommissioned.
• The city has completed and commissioned new Emona and Burbreeze reservoirs in the Tongaat areas.

A few key results for the EWS in the 2025/26 Quarter 1 financial year are as follows:

• The total bulk water System Input Volume for the 2025/26 financial year was 1080.2 ML/day, which showed an increase of 1.1% when compared to the similar period of the 2024/25 financial year, which was an average of 1068.5 ML/day.
• There was a marginal increase of 3% in the volume of water produced by eThekwini Water’s internal water treatment plants from 20 ML/day in the 2024/25 financial year to 20.6 ML/day in the 2025/26 financial year.

zainul.dawood@inl.co.za