The municipality’s water and sanitation unit has saved R58,5 million over the past financial year by reducing the number of leaks and burst pipes.

ETHEKWINI Water and Sanitation (EWS) saved R58,5 million over the past financial year as a result of a reduction in leaks and burst pipes and added another R19,2 million in increased billing as illegal connections were reduced.

"The work done by the EWS team really needs to be commended. This shows that the Municipality is serious about issues of saving water and curbing illegal water connections. It is also commendable that the Unit was able to save money this shows that tax payers money was not going to waste," said Human Settlement and Infrastructure committee Chairman Nigel Gumede.

According to the head of EWS, Neil Macleod, the past financial year saw EWS reach a number of important milestones as it continued to implement a proactive 17 point plan to minimize water losses and optimise service delivery to consumers throughout the city.

As a result, he said, Durban was KwaZulu-Natal's top performer when it came to managing precious water resources.

He said the 2010/11 financial year was particularly successful as EWS had actually surpassed its 35 percent non-revenue water (NRW) target.

"In the past, the total loss of water has been as high as 39.8%. This year, we achieved a figure of 33,2 percent which amounted to an improvement of 4,3 percent over 2009/10.

Our long term goal is to reduce water loss to 25% within the next eight years and we believe that commitment to our goals, proactive measures to curb water losses and a sharp focus on service delivery have paid dividends. Ultimately, our successes and savings on operational costs are passed on to consumers as they will undoubtedly help minimize future water tariff increases," Macleod said.

Another highlight of the financial year was the fact that real losses of water the physical leak or loss volume decreased by 1,9%. Unbilled and illegal connection consumption decreased by an average of 27 584 kl/day.

"Despite the fact that the eThekwini Municipality's average daily purchases from Umgeni Water reduced by almost 51 Ml/day to levels last seen in July 2007, the number of registered connections increased by 18 002 which translated into a 5,2 Ml/day increase in sales. This enabled us to achieve our highest growth since 2004/05 while still saving water," Macleod said.

He said the EWS 17 point plan comprised of 12 strategies that focused on billing improvement and five that concentrated on reducing real losses via, the reduction of high water pressure which is a major cause of leaks and bursts, detection and repair of leaks and proactive maintenance. Of these, nine achieved their targets and two were extremely close.

During the financial year ending June 30, 2011, EWS installed 230 pressure reduction valves and seven innovative i20 pressure controllers.

The latter is a revolutionary device that possesses 'artificial intelligence' which optimises control of water pressure. Macleod said that this year's operational savings were also impacted by a pioneering approach when repairing leaks. "As part of our leak detection and repair strategy, we use contracted plumbers in informal and formal areas. During the course of the financial year, this proved extremely successful with a dramatic increase in the number of leaks repaired at a far lower cost. This will be continued in the next financial year."

Macleod said another area in which EWS had optimized its use of resources was via an agreement with the Durban University of Technology (DUT) to become part of the Singakwenza Ndawonye student empowerment training scheme.

This scheme allows students with a S3 qualification to gain valuable work experience while earning contributions to a bursary that will allow them to continue with their studies and completion of their diplomas. During this financial year, nine students were utilised by EWS.

Source: ww.durban.gov.za