The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Dawid Kruiper has adopted a proactive approach towards addressing water losses in Upington amidst the municipality’s failure to deal with the issues underlying recently imposed water restrictions.
The DA today repaired a tap at the old court building that has been leaking for months. Basic calculations show that the tap was losing more than 100 000 liters of water per month. This is enough to fill up an average-sized swimming pool. The DA has also been identifying leaks across Upington. This includes a massive underwater leak in the canal, behind a local guest house. The leak was fixed last week, after I personally reported it to the director of civil services.
These leaks are a drop in the ocean when it comes to the total amount of water in Dawid Kruiper that remains unaccounted for. According to the 2022/23 annual report, water losses amounting to R21,123 million were incurred, representing 46% of total water purchased. A total of 7% of those losses were due to illegal connections and faulty meters, while technical water losses of 39% were due to defects in the water network.
For Dawid Kruiper to punish residents without also dealing with its own failures, is a serious charge against the municipality.
Every minute that the municipality doesn’t respond to water leaks can translate into thousands of liters of water being lost. That is why the DA previously asked the municipality to develop Standard Operating Procedures for the repair of broken pipes and leaks, including that workers should be on site within 30 minutes of the incident being reported.
The DA will continue to lobby the municipality to adopt this and other proposed measures. In addition to us continuing to engage communities to identify leaks, and to repair leaks ourselves where possible, the DA will fight even harder to hold Dawid Kruiper accountable for better water and infrastructure management.
Residents cannot be expected to carry the burden of municipal-induced water shortages on their own.