The ward 66 councillor, Clr Carlos Da Rocha, urged residents to report water leaks.
This comes after a leak from a broken water metre was recently repaired.
After receiving a complaint from a resident, he reported the matter to the City of Johannesburg’s water department.
The department has since fixed the problem.
Clr Da Rocha urged residents to monitor water leaks on their properties and within suburbs.
“As it is winter, we will have lots of water leaks. This will sometimes be due to the cold. Pipes sometimes freeze and break. The worse part is that these leaks may surface two blocks from the damaged pipe as ground water. This makes the repair time longer,” he said.
He said residents have to closely monitor their water bills received from the council.
“Underground water leaks are not easy to detect. I was once charged huge amounts for water. As I was preparing to launch a complaint with council, I closed all the taps in my house. I went to the water metre. I found it was still running even though the taps were closed,” he said.
The leak was eventually found and repaired.
He urged residents to report all water leaks, even if it appears as though the leak is near another person’s property.
“Water leaks are not good for anyone in many ways. It wastes water and makes the area dirty. Water destroy the surface of our roads and pavements. So it is the duty of a good citizen to report water leaks,” said Clr Da Rocha.
He also said that some leaks are the result of vandalism.
“It came to my attention that there are people who vandalise metres and scoop then scoop up water for their domestic use. This is done to escape paying for water,” he said.
