Amanzimtoti water meters run with no water
Some residents have been asked to report faulty water meters that run even when there is no water.
A NUMBER of residents have expressed emotions that have ranged from shock to anger after noticing that their water meters have been running and indicating water usage even when there was a water outage recently.
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Chris Wilson of Amanzimtoti said he discovered that his meter was running even though there was no water after he saw a Facebook post by another Toti resident.
“It was a video showing the meter running while we had had no water for four days. This made me curious and I decided to check mine. Imagine my shock when I also discovered that it was running and counting a nonexistent water flow as well,” said Wilson.
He said he reported the matter to eThekwini, and workers came and had look at his meter.
“It was corrected but it left me wondering for how many years had this been going on, and how much I have paid over the years as a result of incorrect billing,” he said.
On Facebook, Lee Fonseca posted two photos of the water meter taken three days apart and urged people to keep an eye on their meters. A simple calculation shows that Fonseca’s household used 4 205 liters of water while the entire town did not have a single drop.
eThekwini Municipality’s spokesperson, Msawakhe Mayisela, admitted that the digits of the water meter should
remain constant when there is no water passing through it.
“In an instance where a meter moved or counted while there’s no water, then such an account should be considered for the possibility of adjustment, depending on how factual such situation is and what impact has it had on that particular account. Residents who are experiencing some uncertainty on the movement of their meters are encouraged to report such to the municipality for the investigation to be undertaken to determine whether or not there’s any remedial action required by the municipality,” concluded Mayisela.
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