Water wastage from leaks ‘criminal’ - DA
In the midst of SA’s worst drought in decades, thousands of litres of water is being lost through leaks, the DA said.
|||Pretoria - In the midst of South Africa’s worst drought in more than two decades, water is still not being conserved properly with thousands of litres lost through leaks, said the Democratic Alliance (DA) on Thursday.
DA Mayoral Candidate for Tshwane, Solly Msimanga, made the assertion after he concluded a visit to Block G in Soshanguve.
Msimanga said his visit revealed that “hundreds of litres of water” were being wasted on a “daily basis” even though the leaks had been reported to the municipality.
This water, he said, “could have been used for drinking by poor residents living in the metro”.
Msimanga said the leaks were also causing damage to roads. The leaks create potholes and cause general erosion.
The failure to fix these leaks, he said resulted in an unnecessary water wastage that was “criminal”.
Furthermore, residents were being charged for water that had been “leaking from pipes and running into the ground”.
Noting that Rand water has already called for water restrictions, and for residents to use water wisely, Msimanga urged strategic measures to be implemented to mitigate the crisis.
Some of these suggested measures included the installation of special pressure-reducing valves at key points, the installation of water allocation devices, the use of camera technology to detect and fix leaks, high tariffs for businesses that exceed agreed water use limits and increasing the number of mobile water tankers.
African News Agency
*E-mail your opinion to IOLletters@inl.co.za and we will consider it for publication or use our Facebook and Twitter pages to comment on our stories. See links below.