Major disruptions are to be expected as the construction of Durban’s Northern Aqueduct Augmentation (NAA) project gets underway.
Rapid expansion of residential, commercial and industrial developments in the northern regions of Durban has prompted eThekwini Water and Sanitation (EWS) to initiate the NAA project.
“It is expected that the NAA project will inject around 150 million litres of water per day into the northern regions of Durban. The supply area will include the north eastern regions of Durban north of the Umgeni River; south of the Tongaat River; and east of Ntuzuma. Urban developments planned for Cornubia, King Shaka Airport, Dube Trade Port and surrounding regions will also benefit,” says Martin Bright, Project Manager of the NAA project.
According to Martin, EWS appointed the Joint Venture of Knight Piésold Consulting and Naidu Consulting (KP/NC JV) in 2009 for the consulting engineering services and construction management of this project. Their role is to investigate the most viable engineering option of supplementing the current capacity of the existing pipelines of the NA system from the Western Aqueduct (WA) project (currently under construction to bring potable water in bulk into Ntuzuma in 2015).
The KP/NC JV proposed that water from the WA project be injected into the NA system via a pipeline linking Emachobeni to Umhlanga Rocks. The project will pick up some of the reservoirs in Ntuzuma, Phoenix and Blackburn Reservoir in Cornubia. EWS has accepted this proposal as the most viable solution for strengthening the capacity of the bulk water supply systems of the northern regions of Durban.
With an estimated cost of R860 million, the NAA project is one of the largest capital projects in water supply for Durban. It will comprise three engineering phases spanning 55km.
The project is due to start on Monday 14 April and should continue well into September 2014.