By Thakira Desai

In a city of approximately 3.8 million residents, the City of Cape Town this week came under fire after releasing a list of the top one hundred highest consumers of water within the metro, which placed three Cape Flats roads in the top three sports. Social media users voiced anger and confusion as Haywood Road in Crawford, Manenberg Avenue in Manenberg, and Boundary Road in Lansdowne took the top the spots, while many roads in affluent areas were listed well below.

Following the release of the list, the listed residents cited leaks on their respective properties as being the cause of the high water readings. In response to the claims, the City has noted that the fixing of leaks on private property is the responsibility of residents and not that of the City.

Commenting on the possibility that leaks are the cause of incorrect water readings, spokesperson for the City of Cape Town, Priya Reddy explains that residents need to monitor their water metres and to approach the City if water leaks are present on their properties.

“You get your water reading bill every month – [but] all the people that were named on this list, none of them had come to the City to let us know that this was happening, applied for a rebate, or had done anything themselves.”

Where leaks are discovered on private property, it is the responsibility of the resident to fix the leak and not that of the City, she said, further noting that water readings on private property is considered water “usage and wastage.”

“The City is not even mandated to come into a property and fix leaks – we deal with all the communal pipes. So up until your boundary wall, that is our responsibility and we are doing very well in terms of our repair programme,” Reddy stated.

Despite criticism, Reddy maintained the list was “absolutely 100 per cent correct” and that while it may have been as a result of leaks, it did not negate the fact that the water has been wasted.
Of the City’s 630 000 water connections, it narrowed the list down to the top 20 000 water users, to whom it forwarded letters, informing them of their readings and the City’s restrictions.

Of the top 20 000 users, the City subsequently picked the top users and in keeping with legal advice, released the name of road in which the residents reside and not that of the residents themselves.

“If any resident’s names have come up, it’s been done in a very irresponsible way. Some journalists have gone to the streets and asked neighbours who they think it is and identified who they think it is; in Haywood Road a journalist said it was a pensioner, but it was [in fact] another house which had a couple in it.”

The City is currently in the process of engaging with the high water consumers in order to reduce their water consumption. Following the release of the list and the subsequent uproar, Reddy explains that residents have increasingly been coming forward and reported their leaks, specifically amongst the five highest users.

“We are saying: ‘your consumption is incredibly and high it cannot continue; you need to fix your leak and we will give you a rebate if we see you are doing your part’,” she added.

‘Mismanagement of water’

But Cosatu in the Western Cape have warned it will strike against the City of Cape Town for its failure to address the water crisis. The union on Friday filed a section 77 application to Nedlac for permission to wage a legal strike. Cosatu provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich said the solutions that the city has outlined are “nothing more than political gimmicks that will bring no relief”.

“We raise these areas as working people and the working class communities, as we are convinced that De Lille [Mayor] is only concerned about the wealthy in the City. When the water runs out in the City the wealthy will go and buy water from the retail stores to drink and take it from their swimming pools to wash, while the people in the townships die of thirst and water shortage related diseases,” said Ehrenreich.

“We cannot let the future of the water supply of the City rest with an administration that has as their main tool, the imposition of water fines to rich people who have more money than sense. The drip system imposed on the poor of Cape Flats should now be extended to the wealthy suburbs also. We need a crisis plan to address the water challenge in a manner that appreciates the health risk of water shortage as well as the potential for social unrest.”

The ANC in the Western Cape said it was concerned that the City of Cape Town is making huge decisions on water usage whilst providing very little information to the resident.

“Their current approach is simple. Our dam levels are dropping drastically, residents are responsible and we will punish them. Our view is that this is a very dangerous approach and is unsustainable,” said ANC provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs.

“The biggest problem with the City of Cape Town is that most households and industry still use those analog meters, running numbers nobody really knows what they mean. This means our billing system is not informative, people don’t know how much water they are using, on what, in what days, until they are served with a bill. This makes people not know where their area of high water usage and how to respond to it. We need a very informative billing system.”

However, Reddy said the City has been busying itself with improving responsible water usage for more than a year, where it actively campaigned on numerous platforms, highlighting the growing concern of dam levels.
In light of reports of possible water shedding within the City, Reddy notes that according to specialist opinion, water shedding forms air pockets within pipes, possibly giving rise to water leaks.

“If the situation does not improve soon [water shedding] is something we will consider, but it is something we will do after very careful consideration because of the risk. But, further water restrictions might well be imminent.”

She encourages everyone to respect the water restrictions imposed by the City and to be responsible residents by monitoring their water readings in order to proactively prevent any water wastage through water leaks and the like.

“I would like to thank all those people who are doing so much [to save water], there are so many residents who have brought down our wastage from last tis time to this year this time,” Reddy continued. VOC