With an average loss of about 90 000 kilolitres of water per day, eThekwini municipality has taken steps to deal with its water losses by investing in a multi-million-rand replacement programme.

eThekwini’s Water and Sanitation (EWS) Head, Neil Macleod, explained that with the eThekwini water demand rising, and leaks escalating due to the old crumbling pipe infrastructure, the municipality realized that it had to act fast in order to prevent demand exceeding supply.

In the 2009 financial year R37.3m was invested into water loss reduction projects and another R65m has been budgeted for 2010.

Neil Macleod said projects like the Asbestos Cement (AC) Pipe Replacement programme are expected to provide at least 50 years of leak-free service to the municipality. eThekwini’s Water and Sanitation has also improved the customer billing service. More than 3020 water meters that were installed in the 1970s and earlier have already been replaced and the new meters are monitored to ensure accurate measurements.

Macleod also explained that Pressure management proved to be one of the most effective interventions. By reducing the water pressure, water loss could be reduced by 70-million litres a day and every R1m invested on pressure management translates into a R3m saving on water losses.

The eThekwini municipality has set its sights at reducing leaks so that within a decade the loss can be held steady at 23%. According to World Bank publications, this would place the eThekwini Municipality in the top 35% of water systems in the developed world and in the top 15% in the developing world.