Complexes and water restrictions: All you need to know
JOBURG - How will the water restriction tariffs affect complexes in Joburg?
Level 2 water restrictions, implemented since November last year, will now enable Johannesburg Water (JW) to slap households that use more than 20 kilolitres, or 20 000 litres, a month with an upwards of 10 per cent tariff increase.
Many of the City’s residents live in complexes or estates and own sectional title properties where a lack of individual water meters could make paying a possible tariff increase difficult.
In this regard, spokesperson Eleanor Mavimbela said, “Everyone [will] share the penalty for the few who are not water-wise. In complexes where the bill is shared it is usually shared equally among
homeowners, thus, if they use more than the 20 kilolitres per homeowner after the total consumption is divided by the number of units, they will be charged the water restriction tariff.”
According to Mike Muller, commissioner of South Africa’s first National Planning Commission, the approach taken by Joburg Water appears fair but the problem arises where a body corporate has a single meter for the whole complex. “They will have to work out their average consumption. If it is above or close to 20 kilolitres, they will have to work out with their members how to share responsibility,” he advised.
Muller added that the responsibility in complexes that do not have individual meters should be shared, by encouraging one another to use water carefully.
Tertius Maree, a specialist in legal aspects related to the management and administration of sectional title schemes at Tertius Maree Associates, believes it to be incorrect when the body corporate of a complex divides water consumption equally among all owners. “Unless separate meters are installed, the bill needs to be split.”
He said that the split must take into account the number of people living in a unit, and shared accordingly. Muller added that the responsibility in complexes that do not have individual meters should be shared by encouraging one another to use water carefully.
Darlington Mushongera, an expert in the challenges associated with the delivery of, particularly water, however, believes that if some body corporates are able to bill households individually for electricity, they can extend it to water through an infrastructure upgrade. “Then they can detect who is consuming how much and allocate the bill accordingly,” he said.
The water restriction tariff is now being implemented in a bid to decrease water demand in the City by 15 per cent, as required by the Department of Water and Sanitation.
The MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services, Anthony Still, said if these measures are not effective in reducing demand by the required percentage, then the water system will face the risk of outages.
