South Africa: Free State biggest water waster

Cape Town – Free State municipalities are losing more than

eight billion litres of water a month, according to figures tabled by Water
Affairs Minister Edna Molewa.

Worst affected is Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality – which
includes the provincial capital, Bloemfontein – where exactly half the water
supplied is lost.

In a written reply to a parliamentary question, plus
attached annexures, Molewa said the average total water loss in the Free
State’s 20 municipalities was 8,650,619 kilolitres a month.

A kilolitre is 1 000 litres.

The biggest loss was in Mangaung: 3,315,059 kilolitres a
month.

The reply does not specify how much of this loss is the
result of leaking pipes, but a second annexure reveals that millions of rands
have been set aside in the province for “water leak repairs” in the
20 municipalities.

It also shows that annual demand for water in the province
(125,817 megalitres) is only slightly more than half the supply (238,102
megalitres). A megalitre is one million litres.

Molewa said her department had taken steps to help the
municipalities reduce their water losses.

These include repairing leaks, installing meters, repairing
leaking reservoirs and replacing ageing pipes.