Learning water conservation from Durban
Photo:M.A.Sriram
Precious: Water must be treated as a human right.
The city of Durban has a water supply and sanitation utility called Ethekwini Water and Sanitation Services.
It provides
900 million litres of
water a day to 400,000 connections
in the Durban area.
It collects 500 million litres
of wastewater a day and
treats it all in 29 decentralised
wastewater treatment
plants.
There are several interesting
ideas being tried out
by the utility which needs a
close study by water utilities
in India.
As a pro-poor policy, the
utility is committed to delivering
6,000 litres of water a
month free to households as
part of the South African government's
policy of treating
water as a human right.
It does so by providing a
200-litre poly-tank to every
household which is filled up
every night between midnight
and 2 a.m.
Every family is thus given
access to 200 litres of water
daily, without any connection
charge or meter charge.
Of course, subsequent supply
is metered and charged
on an increasing block tariff
based on consumption.
Reuse
The utility also has an innovative
policy for sanitation
in rural areas that it
serves. It has helped construct
80,000 ecosan toilets.
Here, urine and faeces are
collected separately and
then reused as nutrients.
These toilets demand no
water and are the best
means to reach out to a dispersed
populace. Speedy
Moodaliar, Project Manager,
Ethekwini, suggests that
more than 90 per cent of
these toilets are being used
thanks to a strong community
outreach programme.
In dense settlements,
Ethekwini has provided
common ablution blocks
with urine diversion toilets
and handed them to caretakers
from the community.
Having inherited a legacy
from the previous apartheid
regime, the utility also has
to take care of 60,000 pit
latrines in homes. It has
evolved some simple evacuation
systems such as the
`honeysucker' and a
manually operated deep lifting
spade to help empty
these pits mechanically,
safely and hygienically.
This facility is provided
free to the poor households
in the Durban area.
The utility is also setting
up a series of greywater
treatment plants using the
DEWATS - decentralised
waste water treatment systems
- approach. Anaerobic
baffled reactors and membrane-
based systems treat
the water to high quality for
reuse in agriculture. The
utility is looking to generate
power from the reservoirs
which supply the 900 mld
water to the city.
Cities such as Chennai,
Hyderabad and Bangalore
should learn from the experience
of Durban and find
innovative solutions for the
challenge of supplying water
and providing sanitation
to citizens.
S. VISHWANATH
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