Drive to cut use of water paying off, metro says

THE Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has made massive inroads in curbing its water losses bill over the last four months, the city said yesterday.

It attributed its successes in cutting the water losses figure by 14 percentage points since September to a vigorous sixweek campaign which saw staff repairing leaks – particularly in impoverished areas – over weekends and installing new water meters at some homes.

Their efforts were bolstered by water restrictions in place, which, the metro believes, appealed to the conscience of residents who are becoming more water smart.

However, the municipality is still losing a lot of water due to a shortage of staff to deal with the leaks backlog, theft and ageing infrastructure.

Water and sanitation director Barry Martin told councillors at the municipal public accounts committee meeting yesterday that the water losses figure now stood at 29% of all water consumed in the city.

This has dropped from 43% in September and 33% in November.

Martin said staff recently took part in what he termed a “leak-fixing festival”, where 1 800 leaks were repaired over six weekends.

Those leaks were part of a substantial backlog.

Martin said a service provider had recently been appointed to help with the ongoing war on leaks.

Although inroads were being made into reducing waste, Martin said consumption still had to be cut drastically.

The city introduced punitive water restrictions last month following an instruction by the Department of Water and Sanitation to cut usage by 15%.

“Consumption is still too high. We are using about 300Ml a day [as a metro]; we should reduce it to 250Ml,” Martin said.

Councillors at the meeting, held at the City Hall, applauded officials for their efforts to curb water losses.

ANC councillor Mbulelo Gidane said in Ward 30, he regularly saw municipal staff fixing water leaks.

“It is clear you are doing good work. In our wards, officials are busy working and fixing leaks.

“I attend business meetings in Perseverance and officials from water and sanitation are always there to explain the water situation,” Gidane said.

Patriotic Alliance councillor Marlon Daniels said: “We appreciate the efforts by officials – it is really impressive.”

Daniels also acknowledged the work done by mayoral committee member for infrastructure and engineering Annette Lovemore.

Martin said in the 221 000 formal households in the metro, about 60% of the old meters had been replaced since 2008 at a cost of R94-million.

EFF councillor Lukhanyo Mrara said he was pleased that the billing system of the city was being fixed and meters were being replaced.

A full report on the rand value of the water losses will be given to the committee later this month.

In our wards officials are busy working and fixing leaks