Question NW897 to the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation
16 April 2021 - NW897
Lees, Mr RA to ask the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation
What are the details of the technical report on water losses that was conducted by consulting engineers in the Alfred Duma Local Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, including the (a) date the report was submitted to her department, (b) extent of water losses identified in the report and (c) actions taken to reduce and/or stop the water losses from occurring?
Reply:
The technical assessment on water losses was conducted for the entire UThukela District Municipality, including losses in the Alfred Duma Local Municipality. The technical report was completed on 27 August 2020. UThukela District Municipality is the Water Service Authority (WSA) within its juristic area and it submits a monthly water balance report to the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).
The water balance report from the WSA for the 2019/20 financial year was calculated to be at 41.2% with about 19 858 129 kl of water losses. Water losses may be further divided into Apparent and Real Water Losses, and the figures are 4 693 740 kl and 15 164 389 kl respectively.
The UThukela District Municipality is part of the KwaZulu-Natal Water Conservation and Demand Management Forum where managing water loss remains the key focus. Through this initiative, the Department of Water and Sanitation, in partnership with COGTA, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial government and Umgeni Water has provided support to the District Municipality. As a result, this has contributed to the development and implementation of water conservation and demand management programmes by all KwaZulu-Natal WSAs including the Uthukela DM. The KZN Programme provides support with the following:
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- Water Loss and Non-Revenue Water Master Plans;
- Development of Revenue Improvement Strategies;
- Determination of the true cost of water; and
- WSA Water Loss Mentorship and Training.
Grant funding for Water Services Authorities is made available through both the Water Services Infrastructure Grant (WSIG) and Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG). As part of the grant conditions, funding is available for implementing water conservation projects.