FREE WATER

From July 2001 every household in Johannesburg was supplied with 6 000 free litres of water per month, part of a city programme to help the poorest residents. But free water should not mean wasted water. Here are some tips from Johannesburg Water on how to play your part in conserving our natural resources. How to save water don't put anything down the toilet besides toilet paper fix cistern or tap leaks immediately. A leaking tap means 6 000-12 000 litres of water is lost every month don't dump any foreign objects into sewer manholes and gulleys don't cover manholes consider installing modern dual flush cistern toilets. They were installed in two Gauteng townships recently and water consumption dropped by 35%. Each flush of the toilet uses 10-12 litres of water. How to check for leaks How can you tell whether there's a leaking pipe on your property? Turn off all the taps on your property, inside and outside the house. Take a look at your water meter box - if the dial is still moving, there is a water leak. If it's not moving, there's no leak on the property. A .5mm hole in a pipe results in 14 400 litres of lost water a month.

How Jo'burg plans to save that water June 3, 2002 By Lucille Davie THE water that flows from your taps has travelled hundreds of kilometres to get to you - and somewhere along that convoluted route, as much as 40% of it is believed to leak away. Which sounds alarming, in a country accustomed to drought. But the same happens every day, in every city in the world - and Johannesburg, a city not created on a river, compares rather well. The reasons are complex: leaking toilets and taps; a water system more than a century old, now burdened by a mushrooming population of 2,5 million; and apartheid's legacy of communal metering systems, or, in some townships, no meters at all. Since water pipes are dug underground, often passing beneath other infrastructure, solving the problem is a nightmare for the city's water engineers - who have 9 500 kilometres of pipes to watch over. No city in the world has a 100% record of zero water losses. Against an international benchmark of 10 000 litres lost per kilometres per day (excellent) and 20 000 litres lost (good), Johannesburg's losses weigh in at a commendable 15 000 litres per kilometre per day. But there are ambitious plans to improve that figure. Jameel Chand, general manager of communications and marketing at Johannesburg Water (JW), the city's water utility, says the figure of 40% water losses is somewhat arbitrary, arrived at by accountants rather than engineers: "Johannesburg Water was given the estimate of 40%, based on billing and revenue collection, but in fact it could be as low as 5%, or as high as 50%." JW is responsible for supplying water and sanitation services to the greater Johannesburg area - from Orange Farm in the south to Midrand in the north, Roodepoort in the west and Alexandra township in the east - an area of some 2 500 square kilometres. JW estimates that just under half of the 40%, about 18%, is lost due to physical losses like burst water mains and leaking pipes. The rest, 22%, is lost due to commercial losses, and these consist of illegal connections, leaking taps and toilets, faulty meters and billing errors. JW is an independent private utility company, wholly owned by the City of Johannesburg. It was established as part of the City's iGoli 2002 transformation plan, incorporating many former smaller municipalities. JW buys water from supplier Rand Water at an annual cost of R850-million and supplies some 550 000 domestic, commercial and industrial consumers - an estimated 3 million people. Turnover amounts to over R2-billion a year. The water, piped from an unpolluted source high in the Vaal River catchment area, requires no chemical treatment and is of world-class quality when measured against international standards. JW has signed a five-year performance-driven contract with a consortium led by a French-based company, known as JOWAM or the Johannesburg Water Management Company. JOWAM brings technical expertise and international experience to the management of Johannesburg's water. Physical water losses JW is taking the estimated 18% physical losses seriously. They have created a department, the Unaccounted for Water Department (UFW). A leak-detection crew has been created to monitor the losses throughout those 9 500 kilometres of pipes. "That's a lot of pipe that can leak!" says Jean-Pierre Mas, operations executive of Johannesburg Water. Mas continues: "If we can reduce our physical losses to the 'excellent' benchmark (10), we would reduce bulk water costs by R3-million a month." One of UFW's first priorities is to concentrate on Soweto, where it has created 14 districts within the greater Soweto area. Its first task is to upgrade the Meadowlands Reservoir and water pipe network with the aim of better managing the distribution network within the area. Furthermore, Soweto has a system where pipes were laid at the back of adjoining properties instead of on street fronts. This makes it difficult to access and maintain these backyard pipes. JW is endeavouring, through a phased replacement programme, to rectify the situation at a cost of over R100-million. JW has no pipe network plans for the township. This means that when a resident complains of a water leak in a suburb of Soweto, the whole suburb has to be switched off to try and trace the leak. "Infrastructural developments in low income areas are a top priority," says JW. Johannesburg uses an advanced system of pressure reduction valves that automatically reduce pressure at off-peak periods, thus reducing losses. The system has become run down and is in need of maintenance - JW is addressing this problem now. Commercial losses A large proportion of the houses in Soweto are without meters.These householders are charged a flat tariff of R52.90 for 20 000 litres of water, irrespective of how much they use. This results in water wastage by users who are not motivated to fix any leakages or faults on their properties, says JW. "This sensitive area will take time to be resolved," says JW. New inspectors have been appointed, their role is to clearly define problems before deploying maintenance crews, thus cutting the labour costs of re-doing inadequate work. JW hopes in the future to migrate the billing system from the City of Johannesburg system over its own systems, including revenue collection. In the meantime it is updating software and developing expertise in billing. So far 15 000 high-volume customers have moved to its systems. As these corrective measures are put in place, it is hoped that over a five-year period unaccounted-for water will be reduced by half, at a saving of R250-million. This will be used to contain tariff increases and fund system improvements. Target improvements Residents should see on-the-ground improvements too. "We have set a same day response time for mains bursts, and a repair turnaround time of 48 hours for all leaks, with the exception of certain minor meter leaks," says Mas. In the pipeline is the compilation of a public charter that says JW will fix a leak within five days. This is expected to be ready within 4-5 months. At present residents can call a customer contact centre with complaints and problems (688 1500), in operation since August last year. It has 50 staff who handle a thousand calls day, and is linked to the City's general call centre (375 5555). The city is divided into six regions, each region managed by a customer care manager. JW says it has also set annual targets for operational efficiency, including plant and machinery downtime. A full investigation of the city's sewer network is being undertaken. "Innovations include designing and installing 'theft-proof' manhole covers," adds Mas. RELATED STORIES: Jo'burg's ecological fertilizer JOGRO Don't worry, Sandton loos will flush in August So, how far does 6 000 litres go? Visit the urban forest Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400