“Emfuleni Local Municipality is losing millions of litres of expensive treated water due to unattended leaking water pipes that are a result of ageing infrastructure that is not regularly maintained by the municipality,” says Cllr Dady Mollo, DA Constituency Head: Emfuleni South.
He says leaky ageing pipes, illegal network connections, failing infrastructure, faulty metering and outdated systems are wasting between 45% and 57% of the municipality’s procured water.
“The municipality’s failure to attend to reported water leaks within the recommended times causes a loss of revenue for utilities and an increase in rates for water users. The total cost of bulk water purchases for the municipality in 2020/2021 was over R1 billion, of which at least R592 million was the total material loss incurred in June 2021.”
Mollo says this means that 56% of the municipality’s water purchase is unaccounted for, due to crumbling and old water infrastructure.
Between 2016 and 2022, the cost of water has increased by 57%. “Given this increase, it is imperative that Emfuleni Local Municipality quickly adopt effective water control practices. Adopting effective water control measures is a smart investment that will ease the burden on consumers, preserve water resources and set the standard for responsible governance and resource protection.”
Mollo says many parts of Gauteng are already facing a water crisis and the least Emfuleni can do is manage its water system properly to avoid further wastage of this precious resource.
