MEDIA STATEMENT
13 June 2024
On 12 and13 June 2024, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) embarked on a water conservation campaign in the areas of Hillside 2, Graceland and Rustdene in Beaufort West.
The first day focussed on Hilliside 2 and Graceland before going to Rustdene on the following day.
Every year, the Department monitors the usage of wate by all municipalities and where they see abnormal use, they intervene to assist the municipalities.
According to Mr Nkosinathi Mkonto who is responsible for managing water conservation and demand management at the DWS, his department monitored this municipality and realised that in the targeted areas, there was a lot of water that was wasted and unaccounted for.
“These areas of Beaufort West have the highest numbers of non-revenue water and very high water losses hence we have brought his campaign here,” explained Mr Mkonto.
The campaign consisted of a door-to-door by DWS officials and Community Development Workers from the Western Cape Department of Local Government.
During door-to-door communities from all three areas, namely, Hillside 2, Graceland and Rustdene complained about water leaks from the toilets and taps. A bulk of them said they could not account for their water because they don’t have water metres.
It was also discovered that that most of the taps were lost due to vandalism which is rampant in these areas. As a result, many houses which the team visited had missing taps, missing water metres and leaks.
This vandalism of infrastructure such as taps, toilets systems and water metres has led to major leaks and ultimately huge water losses in these areas.
Rustdene resident Mrs Rose Philander has been fetching water from her neighbour’s house for the past two years because her tap was stolen.
“I have to go and get water there with a bucket every day because I had to close my own tap since it was leaking,” said Mrs Philander.
The team gathered all the information about what the cause of water losses could be. According to Mr Mkonto, the Department will compile a report Afor Beaufort West Municipality on what needs to be done.
“This was one of the interventions, if the municipality needs more assistance, we will be happy to do that,” he said.
Mr Mkonto said the next intervention they will bring is a plumbing training where locals (youth in particular) will be trained in basic plumbing and be given plumbing kits so that they can fix the leaks.
“Water is Life, Sanitation is Dignity”
Issued by the Department of Water & Sanitation
IMA MEDIA AFRICA 