eThekwini Municipality Loses R5 million a Day in Water Leaks
23 November 2022
ActionSA notes with great concern the water losses experienced by the eThekwini Municipality reaching up to an astounding 56% of all tap water it buys - mostly from leaks and water theft, which costs eThekwini close to R5 million a day.
The Municipality continues to lose an estimated 615 million litres of water per day.
Based on eThekwini procuring water from the Umgeni Water Board at around R8.26 per kilolitre (kl), this means the City pays R1.86 billion a year for water that either leaks away, is stolen or not charged.
Despite procuring water at R8.26/kl from Umgeni Water, the Municipality however charges its customers a considerably higher tariff. According to a recent Daily Maverick article, domestic customers currently pay R27/kl for consumption up to 6 kl per month and a tariff of almost R32/kl for higher consumption.