Jo’burg‚ Durban losing more than half their water through leaks - minister

NOW : Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane donates a personal cheque towards the construction of the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital, at a fundraising breakfast in Johannesburg . Pic. Peter Mogaki
NOW : Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane donates a personal cheque towards the construction of the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital, at a fundraising breakfast in Johannesburg . Pic. Peter Mogaki

Johannesburg and Durban metros are losing a combined 56% of their water through leaks and illegal connections‚ Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane revealed on Friday.

She was speaking at the War on Leaks Phase 2 programme launch in Durban‚ specifically touching on non-revenue water.

The programme will train about 7 000 young people to become artisans and water agents. Phase 1 saw 3 000 young people being trained and the last phase will train a total of 5 000 youths.

The War on Leaks programme‚ being implemented by Rand Water‚ was launched in bid to deal with the loss of water worth R7-billion annually through leaks.

“Given our water challenges and the drought we confront‚ this is water that we cannot afford to lose when our country is in need of water‚” said Mokonyane.

“For example‚ in the Johannesburg Metro alone‚ we have 35% of non-revenue water and of that 16% is unaccounted for. In the eThekwini Metro also‚ we have 40.7% of non-revenue water and of that‚ 59.3% is unaccounted for. In all likelihood‚ in both cases‚ this is water lost through leaks and illegal connections.”

Mokonyane said: “This little baby championed by Zuma is something that even the UN speaks about. Our president‚ this man from Nkandla is one of the 12 heads of state in the world who are advising the UN on how to save water.” She added that he’d been invited to India to discuss the programme.

 

 

 

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