Almost half of SA's water lost through leaks

The no drop report released on Tuesday has revealed how the country’s municipalities are losing water through leaks and illegal connections by 10% more than they did nine years ago.

The report also states that the non-revenue water, which is treated water that is produced by the municipalities for which there is no revenue, is also caused by poorly functioning or nonexistent water meters.

The assessment found that national non-revenue water increased from 37% in 2014 to 47% in 2023, which was caused by water leaking out of pipes – above or underground among other things. 

On Tuesday, the minister of water and sanitation Senzo Mchunu and the department’s director-general Sean Phillips released the drop reports on the state of water in the country. 

The Blue, Green and No Drop Certification programmes are aimed at improving municipal drinking water quality, wastewater management, water conservation and demand management.

According to Phillips, a huge amount of money has to be spent to develop dams to capture and restore water. But he said the money is wasted when water is lost through leaks.

“SA is a water-scarce country and every drop counts. We cannot afford to throw treated water away through leaks,” he said.

The report has also shown that the Covid-19 pandemic had “played havoc” with municipal water losses as many councils could not undertake repairs.

Phillips said among the things his department has done is to advise municipalities to replace old leaking pipes and to reduce the water pressure to ensure less water is lost from leaking.

The municipalities are also urged to engage in community education and awareness. 

He also said the department provides municipalities with more than R20bn in infrastructure grant for water and sanitation services every year.

“One of the things that municipalities are encouraged to do with the grants is to reduce non-revenue water like buying meters to detect where the loses are,” he said, adding that some of the grant should be used to replace aging pipes.

Meanwhile, Mchunu said he was “worried” that water that should be going to residents was being lost to the ground.

“This is a matter that we are very worried about,” he said.

Mchunu said his department works with Cogta, the municipal infrastructure support agency, the department of human settlements, and the National Treasury to provide support to the worst-performing municipalities.

“However, despite all the support being provided to municipalities, the drop reports indicate that water services continue to decline, and that fundamental reform is required to arrest and turn around the decline in municipal water and sanitation services.”

Mchunu and other officials have also visited municipalities across the country facing severe problems with water and sanitation services.

“We understand that as the national department of water and sanitation, we have an overall responsibility for ensuring the citizens of the Republic access to clean water and healthy sanitation systems. To that end, we have been assisting and engaging the municipalities to deliver on their mandate and have devised a number of mechanisms to help them achieve what they need to in terms of our expectations," he said.

“When we say we are supporting municipalities, we mean we go beyond grants, we physically go to municipalities, engage municipalities, we point out what is wrong and show ways of improving,” he said.

Chabalalaj@sowetan.co.za