MSUNDUZI Municipality has taken a major leap towards better, faster service by embracing groundbreaking technology.
The municipality has come up with a new water and sanitation app that replaces their paper plans of the city.
The app, administered by water and sanitation manager Brenden Sivparsad, is available to staff on smartphones, Tablets and computers.
Titled the Information Management and Query System (IMQS), the app allows staff to check the city’s pipeline network, water and sanitation services, valves, water pressure and more.
“We have taken all our physical plans and maps and placed them on a digital format.
“At the push of a button you can check any infrastructure, water velocity, pipeline pressure, material, zones and reservoirs,” Sivparsad said.
The app was created by Bigen Africa and GLS Consulting with Msunduzi being the first municipality in KZN to embrace the new technology.
Where staff would previously pull out a large paper map and trace the pipeline and make changes on the physical map, now they just type in an address and all data surrounding that site will be made available in seconds. The app is linked to Google Maps.
“If there is a query at a house, we will put in the address and immediately we will know where the property is, where it gets its service from, which pressure valve is closest, which reservoir feeds it and so on,” he said.
Ultimately the app will enable quicker response times and for staff to get to know the system in detail.
The makers of the app gleaned information from municipal foremen with extensive experience.
“People will eventually leave the municipality, but this app is an invaluable planning tool that any newcomer could learn.
“A function on the app shows the vacant land and, if development takes place on that land, what we would need.
“It would tell us if we need bigger pipes, a bigger reservoir or bigger pump stations.
“To a certain extent construction overtakes planning. With this we will now be able to plan ahead,” Sivparsad said.
He said municipal workers and management team were extremely excited about the app.
“We are enthusiastic and are embracing new technology. It is a learning curve but we are finding a good synergy.”
