Soweto water supply upgrade project saves City R700 million
16-10-2014

 

A R1,7 billion project undertaken by the City of Johannesburg to tackle massive water losses in Soweto – mainly through leaks and pipe bursts – is paying off.
 

Before the implementation of the Soweto Infrastructure Upgrade and Rehabilitation Project in 2004, more than 46% of the water allocated to the township by Johannesburg Water (JW), the City’s water and sanitation entity, was unaccounted for.

The implementation of the project – which included the replacement of ageing water pipes, installation of prepaid water meters and replacement of the flat rate billing system – over the past 10 years has yielded positive results: the City has saved more than R700 million over the period.
 

As a result of the intervention, average water consumption has dropped from 66 kilolitres per month per household to 12 kilolitres per month per household, an improvement of more than 80%.

Every year, JW buys about 460-million megalitres of water from Rand Water for the entire city. Of this, 138 million megalitres are allocated to Alexandra, Soweto and Orange Farm.
 

Before the intervention, about 90% of water supplied to Soweto was billed on a flat rate of R169 per month per household. 

“About 7 million kilolitres, which is equivalent to R20-million a month, was unaccounted for due to physical losses, such as leaks and pipe bursts; and commercial losses, that is, residents not paying their bills. We only received 15% of payment,” says JW Managing Director Lungile Dhlamini.
 

According to Dhlamini, JW expects to save a further R180 million a year when the project reaches its completion in December 2015. He says R1,1 billion of the R1,7 billion set aside to implement the project has been spent so far. About R780 million of this has been invested in the renewal of infrastructure and replacement of old water meters.

Dhlamini says the project has had a positive impact on water consumption and conservation.
 

“We started the project with the objective of reducing bulk supply and to supply only what the residents really needed. Water infrastructure was poor, with leaking pipes that were more than 70 years old. We had to renew the whole infrastructure to minimise leakages and pipe bursts while at the same time improving service delivery. The main objective was to conserve water.”
 

By 2020 demand will exceed supply and there is a strong likelihood of water, Dhlamini says.

“We had to do retrofitting – fixing all the leaks and repairing toilet and water taps before putting new prepaid meters. The objective was to change the profile of customers from deemed (flat rate) consumers to metered consumers. We also embarked on awareness campaigns.
 

“We asked people to sign a service level agreement and we got about 85% responses. But we also had some challenges. Unfortunately, midway through 2008, there was court action spearheaded by anti-privatisation organisations against the project because they deemed it to be discriminatory and depriving Soweto residents of their rights to free water. We had to suspend the project and appealed. It was only in September 2010 that we resumed the project after winning the appeal,” Dhlamini said.
 

Despite resistance in some quarters, installers under the supervision of a quality assurance team visited several homes to install prepaid water meters. So far, JW has installed 98 800 meters and upgraded those with Automatic Meter Readings, which allow the meter reader to take readings without entering the premises.