The ward 118 councillor, Clr Mike Spadino, urged Johannesburg Water to replace the old water meters before they are stolen.
Clr Spadino made the call following the theft of three water meters in the same street last week.
“The old water meters with copper must be removed before they get stolen. Replace them with the plastic water meters. There is the belief that these water meters are stolen for the copper. Use the plastic water meters and make them worthless to criminals,” he said.
He said waiting for them to be stolen is inconveniencing residents and is costly to the City of Johannesburg.
“Imagine, today I received a call from a resident who was coming from working the night shift. Say the water meter was stolen at around 3am. At 6am water was still gushing out. In just those three hours, how much water have we lost? Millions of litres. If it takes more than three hours to fix, how much water would have been lost?” Clr Spadino asked.
An inquiry was sent to Mr Balwin Matsimela, from Johannesburg Water on Tuesday, June 23, with a request for comment by Wednesday, June 24 at 1pm.
At the time of going to print, no comment had been received.
