The looming water restrictions have reference – PE Water Restrictions Looming.
As concerned citizens of the metro there is one thing that we can do to help bring the current daily water consumption down by a minimum of 30.8 megalitres per day and that is to assist the municipality to curb water leaks within the municipal internal water delivery network that runs from reservoir to tap.
The Metro’s current water loss due to leaks and pilferage of non revenue water on the internal networks (from reservoir to tap) is 25% and it is estimated that it will take 3 to 5 years to bring the Metro back in line with the internationally accepted water loss percentage of 15%.
At a current daily consumption of 280 megalitres a day that 11% difference represents a saving of 30.8 megalitres a day which, without any effort from consumers, will bring the current water consumption to well below the 10% savings percentage as requested by the Department of Water Affairs.
The industry accepted water loss norm from dam to major reservoir is 3%. The Metro’s water is delivered over 120km bulk supply lines from the dams to big distribution reservoirs. It is not clear what the municipal water loss percentage is from dam to major reservoir.
Trying to combat this water loss is a trying effort in these times of budget constraints and involves monitoring 218 000 water connections in the metro (to date 150 000 have been checked). Typically 300 to 400 of these individual consumer meters are clustered into districts each fed by one large metered district bulk meter. Comparisons can be drawn on a daily basis to ascertain if there is a large loss between the bulk meter and individual water consumption meters of the consumer. At present the Metro inspects and monitors 220 district meters for unusual water consumption patterns.
Some of the measures taken include metering fire connections as in the past they were never metered and people used them for cleaning. A heavy reliance is placed on concerned ratepayers reporting water leaks to the municipality and a contractor is sent to check and repair any. Municipal staff are only used for emergency repairs.
Residents are requested to report any green and lush patches of grass that they may see growing in public spaces and on open land as they may indicate water leaks.
Lets accept that a water loss of 25% is a huge number in anyones book and I like to think that if we assist the municipality in bringing this number back under control that they will be in a more comfortable position to rethink the price of water and electricity.
Is this a case of removing the log out of your own eye first?
@MyPE not surprised we reported leak 3 weeks ago outside our company and they arrived this afternoon – 4th big leak in Burman Road! #wakeup
— Stuart Weir (@Stuart_Kings) October 15, 2013
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