The eThekwini Municipality has seen a significant surge in sewer faults, with reported incidents tripling to 2,368 in January 2026, compared to 850 in December 2025. This increase is largely attributed to budget constraints, which have hindered the municipality’s ability to maintain and repair its sewer infrastructure.
Sewer Faults and Environmental Risks
Unclosed sewer faults, including blockages, rodding, and jetting, pose a significant risk to the environment. The municipality has stated that while the budget was limited in January 2026, funds have since been made available during the recent budget adjustment. Details on the state of the Sanitation Services Directorate in the municipality were discussed at an Executive Committee (Exco) meeting on Tuesday.
The monthly water and sanitation statistics revealed that effluent flowing into Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) fluctuated between 84% and 60% in six months, with January recorded at 72%. The municipality has indicated that pump stations are suffering from theft and vandalism, but officials anticipate that figures will show improvement once the necessary network repairs are finished.
Green Drop Compliance
The Green Drop programme, which aims to induce changes in the behaviour of individual institutions to facilitate continuous improvement and adoption of best practice management for wastewater collection and treatment systems, has shown that three WWTW had 0% Green Drop compliance. The municipality stated that they were working towards addressing the non-compliance issues at these WWTW.
Some of the WWTW are struggling with specific issues, such as KwaMashu, which is struggling with capacity, and upgrades are planned. Amanzimtoti is struggling with pollution coming from the various industries in the Prospecton area, and the pollution department is engaging with these industries. Hammarsdale has similar problems with Amanzimtoti.
The report revealed that the Hillcrest WWTW is struggling with high volumes of fats, oils, and grease (FOGs) incoming from the various restaurants in the Hillcrest area. The plant is also undergoing upgrades. Concerning flows not reaching WWTW, the average daily flow to Isipingo in December 2021 was 12,471 kiloliters per day (kl/d), compared to 5,261 kl/d recorded in December 2025.
According to the Wikipedia page on wastewater treatment, the reduction of wastewater flow can have significant environmental impacts. The dramatic decline in flow to WWTW and comparison between December 2021 and December 2025 are as follows:
- New Germany: 1,207 kl/d (2021) and 66 kl/d (2025)
- Dassenhoek: 1,452 kl/d (2021) and 676 kl/d (2025)
- Kingsburgh: 5,463 kl/d (2021) and 2,628 kl/d (2025)
- Southern: 278,925 kl/d (2021) and 114,473 kl/d (2025)
- Umhlathuzana: 8,630 kl/d (2021) and 1,733 (2025)
- Verulam: 3,915 kl/d (2021) and 617 (2025)
Sibusiso Vilane, a senior member of the eThekwini Sanitation Directorate, said the municipality has a five-to-10-year investment programme to replace ageing pipelines, as some of the pipes were between 40 and 50 years old.
