Water meters stolen over the weekend
The theft of water meters is on the rise in East London, even though they have no scrap value.
At the weekend, 31 water meters were stolen in the metro.
DA councillor Tessa Botha said: Stolen water meters are
“
now an everyday occurrence in my ward, especially in the Cambridge and Cambridge West areas.
I received a report of 10
“
meters being stolen in Smuts Road, Selborne, this morning [Monday],” Botha said.
She said Buffalo City Metro [BCM] needed to come up with a solution on how to secure the meters.
It s not just an
“’
inconvenience, it also frustrates the residents.”
BCM spokesperson Bathandwa Diamond said the thefts were not a new trend. Smart meters have no scrap
“
value.
The municipality is
“
changing the brass fittings to plastic fittings, which have no resale value.
We re working with the
“’
SAPS and municipal law enforcement in monitoring the affected areas,” Diamond said.
A Selborne resident said it appeared the water meter thefts in the area had occurred at about 10pm on Sunday night. My husband went out to
“
check and found water pumping out. This carried on all night and we woke up this morning to no water.
The water has now been
“
restored and they did solve the problem pretty quickly when the BCM workers came,” she said.
It s not just my house that
“’
was affected but several others in my street.”
However, the resident complained that she had struggled to get hold of the municipality.
I struggled to get hold of
“
them on all the numbers provided. Why do they supply these numbers but don t
’
respond? I called the fire department out of desperation and also reported the matter to my ward councillor.
The time it took to respond
“ resulted in a huge waste of water. We re in a drought and
“’ we have all these water restrictions.”
Affected residents can report meter thefts to the following BCM landline numbers between 8am and 4.30pm:
● 043-705-9234/5 for East London;
● 043-705-9860/1 for Mdantsane; and
● 043-604-8226/90 for inland areas.
The BCM call centre can be contacted on 086-111-3017 for after-hours complaints.
There has been a huge increase in water tariff levels since the implementation of stage 3 water restrictions on New Year s Day.
’
Residents have become increasingly irate over erratic and exorbitant water bills.
BCM ratepayers started to pay more for services from July 1.
The cost of waste removal and water services increased by 9.2%, sewage services by 9.2%, electricity by 6.23% and property rates by 6.25%.