By Clive Ndou

Johannesburg - For the first time in decades, this year, the local water utility has a realistic chance of reducing the more than 7 billion litres of water it losses annually.

The water losses are incurred through leakages and other technical faults and the city council has since set aside about R5 million to upgrade water infrastructure.

Johannesburg Metropolitan Council Spokesperson Jameel Chand said the money would also be used to run a public water conservation awareness campaign.

"In a few weeks time, Jo'burg Water will be organising events and attending ward meetings where video materials on water conservation will be shown to community members.  People will be educated on how best to save water.

"We want to sensitize the public around the proper usage of water and how best to cut water costs," he said.

He said at the moment close to 60% of water was being lost due to several reasons, most of which relate to the public's ignorance around issues of water conservation.

In conjunction with the public water conservation campaign, Jo'burg Water officials will also be visiting schools where they will lecture pupils on water conservation.

"We will visit between three to fours school daily and our target is to reach out to 3 500 children every month. 

"The council needs to ensure that the adult of tomorrow understand the importance of clean and safe water and strive to use it economically," he said.

A few months ago Jo'burg Water launched the Operation Gcina Manzi, where it embarked on a massive infrastructure upgrading campaign.  In Phiri Township in Soweto, 98 percent of old meters were replaced with new ones.

"Our assessment of the various water conservation campaigns that were launched previously indicates that there is a sharp decline of water wastage in those areas where the programes has been implemented. Our objective this year is to expand these programes to other areas," he said.

On a more positive note, Mr Chand said despite the massive water losses over the years, there were no immediate plans to impose water restrictions.

"While we can't rule out that possibility in a few years to come, at the moment the amount of water we have in our reservoirs doesn't warrant any sort of water restriction," he said. -BuaNews