HARARE City Council revenues have taken a plunge to $4,5 million from an average of $6 million monthly as the local authority is also losing huge quantities of treated water through leakages.
STAFF REPORTER
The development comes in the wake of an order by Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo for local authorities to write off residents’ debts.
The council is losing at least 62% of its treated water to leakages and “non-revenue water”.
Speaking at a workshop to discuss the city’s water situation, the director for water Engineer Christopher Zvobgo said some residents in the city were illegally removing water meters.
“Others completely removed the meters, for example in Mabvuku,” said Zvobgo.
“I don’t know what has been happening with our meter readers because they have been constantly giving us readings from these meters, but when we went there, there was nothing.”
He urged consumers to reduce water usage in order to conserve the precious liquid and singled out Sunningdale for using large volumes of water at the expense of other residents.
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Zvobgo said plans were underway to introduce smart meters that would work in the same manner as Zesa’s prepaid meters. “We have to introduce smart meters because we are losing a lot due to under-metering,” Zvobgo said.
He said Harare needed $3 million for water treatment chemicals and $1,1 million to service energy costs.
Director of finance Cosmas Zvikaramba said 50% of meters in Harare were not working, adding: “Where there is no water, we should not come up with strange figures. That is why our consumers say our billing system is chaotic.”
