BY TAPIWA CHIRUME
SOME residents in Kadoma are costing the local council a fortune by removing water meters, making it impossible for the authority to charge them accurately.
According to Kadoma City Council director of engineering services, Blessing Musasira, the practice is crippling the council’s ability to provide quality services.
“Our challenge as a council is that a large number of our residents are in the habit of removing or disconnecting water meters and placing them in their houses, and this is resulting in the council losing huge amounts in potential revenue,” Musasira said.
“The major challenge with this problem is that it results in residents being charged an estimated fixed rate, or flat fee, as the council is unable to provide an accurate reading of water usage, and this has huge financial implications for our municipality.”
Musasira said residents were taking advantage of the system, using council water to water their gardens and lawns, knowing they would only be charged a minimal fee. To combat this, the council has introduced higher penalties for residents involved in the illegal removal of water meters.
“As a council, we have increased penalties on those involved in the illegal removal of water meters so that would-be offenders are deterred,” Musasira said.
However, the council was also facing a challenge of vandalism of water meters by thieves targeting brass metals, which they sell to scrap metal dealers.
“Apart from the removal of water meters, we are facing the challenge of thieves who are vandalising the water meters to extract brass which they will sell to scrap dealers, and this is also resulting in the council losing money in replacing the water meters and also we are not able to provide accurate readings to water consumers, thus depriving the council of revenue,” Musasira said.
This comes as the auditor-general’s report last year revealed that Kadoma City Council was losing huge amounts in potential revenue due to faulty water meters. The report showed that the council had 2 541 non-functional water meters, resulting in residents being charged an estimated fee.
According to the report, the council billed 3,5 million out of eight million litres of water produced during the year, resulting in a 56 percent loss of treated water, far above the world standard non-revenue water loss of 25 percent.