DURBAN: Water lost through leaks and other activities is an ongoing threat to the future and stability of the eThekwini Municipality.
The issue was again flagged for the umpteenth time by the audit committee report tabled before the executive committee (exco) meeting today.
The report highlights area of concern in the municipality’s operations.
The chairperson of the city’s audit committee Siboniso Shabalala told members of exco that water losses and ageing infrastructure continues to pose a serious challenge to the municipality.
He said the city is struggling to address ageing infrastructure that is resulting in losses of more than half of the water that the municipality buys from Umgeni Water.
“The municipality is losing 50% or a little more of the water that we buy from Umgeni Water,” he said.
Numerous reports have painted a bleak picture of the state of the city’s water infrastructure.
The Mercury has previously reported that water losses are costing the eThekwini Municipality a fortune and have resulted in a drastic decrease of the city’s revenue.
The municipality has revealed in the past that it needs to raise a whopping R8 billion to rebuild its ageing water infrastructure.
The city recently introduced a levy which it hopes to use to raise about R1 billion that will be used to fund infrastructure.
Musa Mbhele, the acting city manager, said the municipality was working to resolve the issue of water losses.
THE MERCURY