Residents of Athlone Park south of Durban say they have been without running water for more than a week as the eThekwini Municipality works to restore supply to affected areas.
The municipality says the interruption is linked to low pressure on the bulk pipeline feeding the Prospecton Pump Station.
Residents have described the prolonged outage as severely disruptive, particularly for families with schoolchildren, working adults and elderly residents.
Resident Adina Murugan said the area has experienced ongoing water supply problems for several weeks, with conditions deteriorating significantly last Monday.
She said water tankers only began arriving on Friday.
“We live in a complex and it has affected us drastically. We have children going to school and people going to work. We need water for washing clothes, toilets and dishes, and we’ve had to buy water every day, which has become extremely expensive,” she said.
Another resident, Selvan Moodley, said the situation has left many residents frustrated and exhausted.
“Most schools have JoJo tanks as backup, but children still have to take their own water to school. There are also many elderly people who are struggling,” Moodley said.
“Imagine carrying water upstairs and waiting for tankers that only stop at one central point instead of going house to house.”
The ongoing shortages have also affected care facilities in Durban.
The Bill Buchanan Association in Morningside says staff have been scrambling to care for nearly 300 elderly residents amid intermittent water supply.
Chief executive Dudley Fortune said the biggest challenge has been caring for frail and bedridden residents.
“You’ve got people who need bed baths, nappies that need changing and large amounts of laundry that cannot be done without water,” Fortune said.
He added that when water supply is briefly restored, pressure is often too low to pump water into the building’s upper storage tanks.
“Early in the morning, before other residents start using water, we can get a small amount from the garden taps at the bottom of the building. But the real issue is the toilets in a seven-storey building with multiple wings,” he said.
Fortune said support from the public has helped the facility cope during the crisis.
“We have received an overwhelming amount of help. People have donated drinking water and JoJo tanks. Another tank arrived while we were speaking, and more are on the way. We are surviving thanks to the people of Durban,” he said.
The retirement facility is among several customers across Durban currently struggling with ongoing water supply interruptions.