ALBERTON – Water is widely regarded as a scarce resource in our country. The main reason for this is having a physical natural environment where water is scarce. The problem, however, comes in when you combine water scarcity with the irresponsible contamination of water through pollution and poor water management.
Ekurhuleni has always regarded water and the supply of water as a core service of the municipality. We are also very proud of our Blue Drop status from the Department of Water Affairs, which guarantees our water is of the highest quality. In actual fact, Ekurhuleni has the highest quality in drinking water of all the metros in our country.
Unfortunately, maintaining the provision of high quality drinking water to residents costs a lot of money and the sustainability of this basic service is becoming a problem. The cause of this problem is the large number of illegal water connections. Illegal connections are a crime and cost Ekurhuleni millions in lost revenue annually. Ekurhuleni loses over 120 448 kilolitres of water per annum through illegal water connections. The lost revenue runs into hundreds of millions of Rand annually, which must be funded by the paying residents in this metro.
It is for this reason that the Ekurhuleni is taking a firm stand towards customers using water illegally. An illegal water connection does not only result in unnecessary loss of water and costs to the municipality, but is a violation to other residents’ rights to access clean water. Residents with illegal water connections, and offenders found with unmetered water supply, will be liable to a fine or penalty, as well as additional charges to cover the costs incurred due to damages caused to the network or connections.
Theft of water is not restricted to one single segment in our community but a crime of many. We have a collective responsibility to address this issue as it becomes a huge burden to every paying consumer in Ekurhuleni who has a legal water connection. Residents are requested to be vigilant and assist Ekurhuleni in combating the crime. I would like to encouraged people to play a role in the fight against illegal connections by contacting the municipal services call centre on 0860 543 000, to report any tampering of water connections.
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