From springs to taps: How conservation efforts are revolutionising water access in KwaMkhize

Deep within the scenic hills of uThukela District Municipality, neighbouring the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park on the outskirts of KwaZulu-Natal, lies KwaMkhize, a community long deprived of reliable access to potable water.

Located near the Lesotho border, this rural area in Ward 11 has a population of more than 9 000 people, who have had to depend on springs and rivers often shared with livestock for their daily needs.

However, a recent initiative led by the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) in partnership with the International Crane Foundation (ICF) is beginning to change their lives.

Recognising that the distance to main roads often impedes rural residents’ access to government services, the project has introduced a series of spring protection projects aimed at safeguarding vital habitats for South African cranes while significantly improving local water accessibility.

The Abambo Traditional Council, which includes various chiefs and councillors, highlighted how critical this project is for the community.

The council said access to water in this community is a very big issue, and they appreciate the work done by the organisation in the spring protection project.

The council said they have seen the benefits of the project and believe that it will play an important role in improving the lives of the people.

“Sometimes people collected water in open water sources where water had to be shared with livestock. As a result, there have been cases of waterborne diseases that people have suffered as a result. There are also elderly people who really struggle to collect water from far away. With water being in close proximity to the community, it makes a very big difference.”

They called on the organisation to accommodate other areas in KwaMkhize with water collection points.

“We regard all the areas of KwaMkhize as equal, so whatever the organisation does in one place, it would be nice if it could be duplicated in other community areas as well.”

The council acknowledged that while providing piped water to every household would be optimal, it might not be financially viable.

“Maybe at a later stage when the organisation has done a number of spring projects, they will be in a position to… identify strategic positions where the collection points need to be put across the community.”

The council explained that many KwaMkhize residents, who rely on grants – especially the R350 SRD grant – find it very challenging to support their families.

“If there can be more spring projects where water can be brought very close to people, they will be encouraged to plant their own vegetables because there are people willing to plant vegetables, but without water, it's very difficult. A project of this nature can really do a lot in terms of improving the lives of people.”

The council added that it is important to note that children now have more time to learn because they are not wasting hours of their day to collect water.

The council said it would also appreciate assistance in the grassland area to eradicate the invasive growth of Natalie Bramble, which harms the environment and grazing.

Samson Phakathi, senior community field officer with the EWT/ICF partnership, said their approach is to engage with the communities to identify what their challenges are and if intervention is needed.

Phakathi said the messaging that they take into the community has to resonate with the people for it to succeed.

He said by understanding the livelihoods of the community, they determined that access to water and improving the grazing land for those who keep livestock was key.

“In a situation like this, you have people who have water at their doorstep for the first time in their lives,” said Phakathi.

He said while they have accommodated a lot of people to date, there is still a lot of work that still needs to be done.

“The plan is to accommodate all six communities (within KwaMkhize), but this is informed by the number of beneficiaries because it costs a lot of money to construct a spring in terms of materials and labour,” he said, adding that it is also difficult to work in the rough terrain.

Phakathi said in the Nsongo area at the first spring construction project site we visited, 25% of the wattled cranes are found at any given time in one spot, next to the community.

“That is a very important area for cranes, but we have not spoken about cranes in the community, the reason being, the moment you focus on cranes, you have a situation where the cranes become your cranes, and if they cause crop damage or anything in the community, people will point fingers at you,” he said, adding that some foreigners travel to SA and use a combination of endangered animals and medicinal plants for traditional medicine.

He noted that this community also has nesting pairs of Gray Crown Cranes.

In the context of KwaMkhize, Phakathi said another focus is on improving rangeland for both the people and the cranes to benefit.

The community has set aside land used for grazing that also has wetlands where cranes nest, he further stated.

He said to mitigate runaway fires during winter in the area, they engaged the community regarding Integrated Farm Practice training that has since been implemented.

“The community began to take initiative to burn firebreaks during winter so that there is no runaway fire. They also realised that they need to rest areas, so what they've done is sought government support to build a number of grazing camps,” he said.

The setting aside of land for grazing is quite unique, said Phakathi, as most of the areas are occupied with houses, pit latrines, etc.

The community has also identified that the invasive Natalie Bramble plants need to be removed to improve the land.

In response to how having this dedicated land for grazing affects the springs and the water quality, Phakathi said it is very important because this KwaMkhize area is what is referred to as a water factory.

He said that the water that you get in Johannesburg and the whole of Durban is actually coming from this area.

“It's a very important water factory area. In a situation like this, it's very important to protect the catchments because the catchments are the only places that assist you to capture enough water that is good quality to supply areas like Durban and Johannesburg.

“If you invest time in improving these areas, you are actually playing a very important role in ensuring that there is a constant supply of water,” he said.

Phakathi said they are now planning to construct another spring from a waterfall in the forest and pipe water down to a primary school.

He emphasised that while constructing a spring, they ensure that the natural flow of water is not disrupted and that water still feeds the rivers to the wetland which is used by cranes.

“The plan is to pipe water from that source to the school, but also secondly having a pipe that goes through the community with different collection points because, from one spring, you could have as many as five collection points, but once you have that, it's important to sit down with the community to develop a management plan,” he said.

He said the organisation wants a situation where whatever it implements, the community should take ownership.

“We have tried by all means to walk the talk. It's very difficult to create a balance, especially if you are working in a community. The worst thing possible is to have a situation where people fight among themselves because of the work that you are doing in the area. That's why you have to make sure that whatever you are doing, there are many people benefitting,” said Phakathi.

The area has a total of 11 permanent springs, and we visited two spring-protected sites where a silt box with a capacity of about 5 000 litres was constructed at each site, and water piped down to community collection sites.

The Nsongo community has one collection point, and evaluations in consultation with the community are being done to determine whether another collection point can be constructed on the other side.

This spring supplies 67 households comprising 469 individuals, according to a report by the EWT.

Residents who have lived in the area their entire lives without access to piped water gathered to discuss the impact of the communal tap that was completed three weeks ago, all of which shared the sentiment of appreciation for the initiative.

Lindiwe Mabaso, 38, who collects 20 litres twice a day for her household of eight for drinking and cooking, said the project has assisted them quite a lot because, in the past, it used to be extremely difficult to walk to the source due to the rough terrain.

Mabaso said they also harvest their own water from the rain for bathing and washing clothing.

“I'm extremely happy with the project because I don't have to walk long distances to collect water, but also the fact that the collection point is near my household, I can send the children to collect water in 5-litre containers. It would have been impossible to send them into the forest,” she said.

According to Mabaso, the spring is well respected in their area because it is the only source of water that has been used for many years.

“At this point in time, there have not been any problems; all the people have been able to go to the collection point and access water, but over time as problems manifest themselves, we will sit down and find a workable solution around managing the use of water from the collection point,” said Mabaso.

Thokozani Xaba, 45, echoed the call from other residents for water to be piped to the other side of the community.

“We have sat down as a community to discuss how this can be done because you can't cross the road infrastructure. We have identified a pipe that is taking water from one side to the other side of the road where the pipe can actually be put there,” he said.

Sifiso Mkhize, 43, said there are people on chronic medication about 500 metres from the collection point who would appreciate another water collection point closer to their households.

Mabaso added that there is also an elderly family who are struggling to come and collect water.

Khanyisile Dlamini, 57, said their household is a bit higher up the mountain, and they would prefer to still access water from the source in the form of another tap being placed there.

Despite the challenge with the supply of water and other basic services, Dlamini said she loves living in KwaMkhize because the sites and the standard of living are much more expensive in or near town. “People from this community also believe in keeping livestock, so this is a suitable place to be able to graze livestock.”

At the second site, in EnhlanomMkhize, there are two pipes feeding water to either side of the community.

Phakathi said a calculation determined that 76 households directly benefit from this spring, of which a situational analysis found that there are seven people per household. In total, 532 people benefit directly from the spring.

At one of the two water collection sites, three sisters, Nosipho, 20, Xolisiwe, 18, and Olwethu, 11, had just filled their buckets with water.

Nosipho said they use the water for cooking, drinking, and bathing.

“Since the water is closer, we are collecting twice a day, but when we were collecting from the source, we had to collect multiple times a day,” she said.

She stated that there has been a major improvement since the tap was installed because they do not live far from the collection point.

“One of the most beneficial parts of the project is the water quality. When we used to collect from the source, sometimes we used to wait almost two hours to fill a bucket because the water was not coming in a large volume.

“Secondly, we also had to wait because the water was polluted by the livestock. If you go to collect, you have to wait for the pollutants to clear before you collect water. But overall, this has helped quite a lot,” said Nosipho.

An elderly couple at the same water collection point said before the tap was installed, they struggled to go and collect water from the source.

Thandiwe Hlongwane said they had to wake up very early in the morning in order to access a little bit of water. “If you get there a little bit late, you wait for hours for a bucket to fill.”

She said now there is water all the time and at their doorstep. “It has really improved the time that it took to collect water. Our lives are much better now. Here we are able to send the kids to collect water, unlike the source where it was unsafe to go and collect water all the way up there because it is quite a distance from here.”

Nhlanhla Hlongwane added that it was difficult to take wheelbarrows all the way to the top to collect water.

While all the residents that we spoke to were very appreciative, they all appealed for more collection points to be built to accommodate those community members who still have to walk to the tap.

karen.singh@inl.co.za