Water leaks cost Tshwane hundreds of thousands daily

The city has been forced to implement water restrictions due to the ongoing drought.

Residents have been warned to abide by water restrictions or risk being fined.

Infrastructure MMC Darryl Moss urged residents to abide by the water restrictions or risk more severe interventions such as tariff increases, and even water shedding if all else fails.

"We will have to introduce further steps to force you to curtail your water usage. That will include increased water tariffs, especially at the higher-end usage and again we have the legal right to do that. We will increase the policing of water usage if we need to and in a last resort, we will look at water shedding," Moss said.

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Moss admitted that leaks are also a big part of the problem and is costing the city hundreds of thousands of rands on a daily basis.

"Unfortunately, the leak repair system in Tshwane has deteriorated significantly over the last number of years for various reasons, mainly around the budget that is allocated to repairs and maintenance in the regions. Five years ago we used to repair 80 percent of our water leaks within 48 hours. Now, we are only repairing 40 percent of our water leaks in 72 hours and this is a major concern. It's an issue around resources. We don't have sufficient plumbing teams to go out and do the repairs and we react rather than do anything in terms of preventative maintenance."