The Minister of Water and Sanitation Mr Senzo Mchunu has earnestly pleaded with KwaZulu-Natal Municipalities and provincial office of the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) to up the stakes in curbing the scourge of water losses that is continuing to plague the province and having an adverse effect on water provision.
Minister Mchunu was addressing Water Services Authorities on the second day of a working session at Olive Convention Centre in eThekwini, where he is also meeting various stakeholders to assess the status of water and sanitation security, focusing on deficit of availability of water resources, funding required for water infrastructure among others from, 13-15 October 2021.
The Minister was joined by his deputies, David Mahlobo and Dikeledi Magadzi, as well as KZN Municipalities’ mayors to come up with innovative ideas meant to enhance water security and sanitation services in the province.
Minister Mchunu got down to business by emphasizing that the scale of water losses in the province is alarmingly high, this is the water that is lost through leaks, burst pipes, illegal connections, and both ageing infrastructure and vandalism of infrastructure respectively.
‘’It is the right of the communities to receive water from us, it is not a favour, and it is also important to note that water is the main priority and the main supporter of life since it is important for everything; this is the commodity that is not in abundance in the country’’, Minister Mchunu said.
Deputy Minister Mahlobo reiterated the issue of water losses as a matter of grave concern that needs to be attended to as a matter of urgency.
“eThekwini Metro is losing the most amount of water in the country, Newcastle District Municipality loses approximately 30 million litres of water on a daily basis, this is a clear indication that the gravity of water losses in the province is extremely huge”, Deputy Minister Mahlobo stated.
Furthermore, Deputy Minister Magadzi also weighed in on the deliberations and suggested that a comprehensive strategy is required in order to recoup water that is lost. She further stressed that wasteful utilization of water is a thing of the past and urged municipalities to move towards ensuring the installation of meters with a view of receiving revenues.
Minister Mchunu also encouraged municipalities and the Provincial Department of Water and Sanitation to endeavour to unearth innovative ideas of utilizing rainwater fruitfully. This proposal is triggered by the fact that recently KwaZulu-Natal has been getting the highest rainfall in the country on average.
Source: Government of South Africa