Africa: Nearly 90% of the 3100 water leak backlog has been repaired in just nine days since the Metro began the aggressive leaks repair plan.
“The effort by the Metro’s Water and Sanitation department, along with small-medium-micro enterprises and cluster contractors, has definitely made a significant impact in reducing water losses and overall water consumption,” said the Director for Water Distribution Joseph Tsatsire.
Residents are encouraged to continue monitoring their daily consumption by taking a meter reading and monitoring any deviations, as this could be a sign of an unnoticeable water leak. Residents are also encouraged to continue reporting water leaks.
Water consumers now have various alternatives for reporting water leaks, including a zero-rated WhatsApp number, 064-744-7721, which is activated when the word “water” is sent to engage the self-help menu.
Through this platform, residents can report leaks by sending their location pin, recording a voice note, or taking a picture, all designed to help the general public report leaks easily.
Other options include calling 0800-20-50-50 or sending an email to waterleaks@mandelametro.gov.za. Those are using smartphones can download the municipal app from the Google Play or Apple App Store and follow the easy steps.
Despite stage 4 and stage 6 load shedding disrupting production, the water system remains stable.
As of Thursday, June 2022, the amount of water produced for consumption was 245 ml/day, showing a significant decrease of one million litres from Wednesday’s 246 ml/day.
The Metro’s local dams have also seen a slight improvement, with a total storage capacity of 2.20%, up from 2.15% on Wednesday, June 29, 2022.
“We are not out of the woods yet; actual water use is still extremely high, exceeding the existing goal of 230 megalitres per day by 15 megalitres per day,” said Luvuyo Bangazi, spokesperson for the NMBM JOC.
“However, the city welcomes the minor improvement and urges water users to continue using water sparingly and to limit their daily water consumption to 50 litres per person,” said Bangazi.
“By doing this, we can prevent parts of our city from running out of water and make sure that everyone has equal access to water,” he added.
