Prepaid water meters costly, ill-conceived

Since Bulawayo residents took to the streets demonstrating against a move by Bulawayo City Council (BCC) to introduce prepaid water meters in November 2014, the issue of water management has become a major topic of debate.

The discussions have sought to respond to questions of suitability of prepaid water meters in Zimbabwe and how local authorities can maintain a level of viability and increase their revenue collection in the face of failure by residents to settle their bills.

This has come at a time when BCC has revealed that it is owed
$90 million in unpaid bills, a considerable increase from the
$50 million that it was owed in June 2013 when the Ministry of Local Government cancelled all debts residents owed to local authorities.

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