Metro’s water losses down 10%
More plumbers hired as battle against wastage intensifies
THE Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has reported a dramatic reduction of about 10% in its water losses over the past two months as it intensifies the battle against water wastage. However, the metro still lost 25% of all water usage to leaking taps and pipes, the city said yesterday.
It has now hired seven plumbers to fix leaks, bringing the total number of plumbers to service the entire metro up to 28. Ideally, the metro needs 54 plumbers.
The plumbers are part of the city’s War on Leaks programme aimed at reducing water losses by fixing leaks. More vacancies will be advertised next year.
In September, municipal officials reported that 43% of water used in the Bay was not billed. This figure dropped to 33% in the past two months.
Infrastructure, engineering and electricity political head Annette Lovemore said water losses had reduced since August, but more needed to be done.
At a media briefing yesterday, Lovemore said they were aiming to reduce the water losses figure to under 10% over the next five years.
“In November, we only used 304Ml.
“If we had not lost 25.9% of that water to leaks, we would have saved this metro a lot of money just for November.
“Some level of loss is inevitable,” Lovemore said.
The city lost about R450 000 last month on leaks, the municipality said.
“We measure non-revenue water. It is water that is treated but not billed.
“In the last three months, the number dropped by 10%. We know we are winning the war but it is not nearly good enough,” Lovemore said.
Last week, the council approved the implementation of punitive water restrictions.
This means residents will have to pay more if they waste water.
Each household is allowed to use no more than 400 litres a day.
Lovemore said she understood that this appeared to put a strain on residents, but it was a culture that had to be inculcated in households.
“We will be attacking the leaks. We are losing massive amounts of water to leaks.
“We receive about 3 000 calls a month at our operations centre, reporting leaks.
“We have a backlog, with about 20% of complaints lodged in June still not addressed. We know this is not acceptable, by a long stretch.”
Mayor Athol Trollip said the city was facing a crisis as most leaks were due to underground infrastructure.
“Think about it, how much water is lost due to old infrastructure that is underground which cannot be detected?
“That is why we have to win this war on leaks. People can survive without electricity or transport – but without water, it will be a crisis; it is a matter of life,” he said.
We know we are winning the war but is not nearly good enough