Water meters tick over on air

UGU Municipal Manager DD Naidoo has issued an urgent instruction to his staff  to investigate the possibility of air causing inflated water bills.

This after the Herald alerted him to reports in several parts of the country that homeowners had discovered a sudden spike in their accounts, especially after there had been water disruptions.

Obviously the South Coast is plagued by disruptions as well, due to many circumstances, especially an ageing infrastructure with pipes that burst unexpectedly.

Mr Naidoo conceded that there was a certain buildup of air in pipes that would be pushed out once supply was restored. Whether this affected meter readings or by how much, he could not say.

But he issued an immediate instruction to his staff to investigate while meeting with the press at a special meeting last week.

The briefing was called in a bid to resolve communication issues which, as Mr Naidoo appreciated, caused huge frustration in the community. Hence, many people lashed out, especially on informal social media platforms.

“It’s certainly not foolproof, but I want to assure the public that we now have a new, upgraded system in place for people to report problems and we appeal to everyone to use it and follow the right procedures instead of resorting to these informal platforms which sometimes distort the facts and misinform,” said Mr Naidoo.

It is anyone’s prerogative to create a pressure group, but we can’t keep dealing with these middlemen. We would rather work through recognised media. There are often very ugly and unpleasant comments and we won’t be engaging with these sites any more, – DD Naidoo

In future, he said Ugu would only liaise with the public directly through the mechanisms put in place at the municipality or through recognised media houses like the South Coast Herald.

An appeal would be made to ward councillors to use the proper channels as well.

“We appeal to people to follow the procedures and if they still don’t work, contact my office by all means.”

Mr Naidoo said he had now also appointed a dedicated customer service person in his office as further back-up for the call centre.

The communications system was funded through a grant of a ‘considerable amount of money’ and was highly sophisticated.

It was managed by Zimbini Ntlangula and a trained team which varied in numbers according to call rates.

Ms Nlangula came across at the meeting as highly efficient and outlined her strategy.

“We never take reports of leaks and water losses for granted,” said Ms Ntlangula. “We welcome those reports so that we can react as quickly as possible.”

They sometimes had to field up to 800 calls a day, the system measuring an average of four minutes per call. She often listened in to difficult calls and took over if necessary.

If people were unable to get through, especially when call rates were peaking because of major problems, they could leave messages through voicemail or sms.

A reference number would be provided within seconds indicating that the message had been seen and a more detailed reply – either through a phone call or via sms – would be provided within 20 minutes.

Residents could also go to the official, interactive Facebook page, Ugu Municipality Talk, for an update on any situation or to leave queries. These would also be answered as soon as possible, Ms Ntlangula promised.

Rounding off the meeting, Mr Naidoo said: “We admit we have short-comings. But it pays all of us to work together to take the Ugu District forward. If we are wrong, say so, but not through tainted and emotional feedback.”

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