LOWER UMKHOMAZI BULK WATER SUPPLY SCHEME AND ASSOCIATED INFRASTRUCTURE - PROPOSED DESIGN CHANGES

Proposed Design Changes to Ngwadini System (Umdoni Local Municipality and Ugu District Municipality as well as eThekwini Municipality) and Goodenough System (eThekwini Municipality), KwaZulu-Natal AND Proposed Design changes to the Water Treatment Plant in Craigieburn, Ethekwini Municipality, KZN
In 2018, the former Umgeni Water (now known as uMngeni-uThukela Water) received the following Environmental Authorisations in terms of the National Environmental Management Act (Act No. 107 of 1998) (NEMA) for the components of the Lower uMkhomazi Bulk Water Supply Scheme (LUBWSS):
❑ LUBWSS - Goodenough weir, abstraction works and associated infrastructure within the eThekwini Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) (reference no.: 14/12/16/3/3/2/1030); and
❑ LUBWSS - Ngwadini weir, abstraction works and pipeline within the Umdoni Local Municipality and Ugu District Municipality, as well as the eThekwini Municipality, KZN (reference no.: 14/12/16/3/3/1/1884).
Post authorisation, during the detail design phase of the Ngwadini and Goodenough Systems, changes were required to various components of the proposed infrastructure. To accommodate these changes, uMngeni-uThukela Water (the “Applicant”) initially intended to seek an amendment to the existing Environmental Authorisations, however, after
engagements with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) it was concluded that the existing authorisations would remain in place, but that the following two processes would need to be undertaken to address the changes to the layouts:
a) An EA amendment application would be made for the Goodenough System (reference no.: 14/12/16/3/3/2/1030) to specifically accommodate the design changes to the Water Treatment Plant (WTP);
b) A new application for Environmental Authorisation (EA) would be made to cover the majority of the infrastructure changes to the Ngwadini pipeline as well as the Goodenough weir, abstraction works, pipelines and reservoirs, as these changes would themselves trigger listed activities. A Basic Assessment (BA) Process would be followed for this application.