‘No sign of decreasing water consumption’

The save water message is not sinking in with consumers, said the Salga director of water services.

Durban - The save water message is just not sinking in with consumers, with most of the water supplied to urban homes used on the garden.

This is according to William Moraka, director of water services at the South African Local Government Association’s national officer.

He was in Durban speaking at a stakeholder engagement hosted by Umgeni Water on Wednesday.

“The use of water in homes in order is: gardening, flushing, showers and drinking. This is the general consumption trend in urban areas, but it is also emerging in rural areas where, as soon as there is a tap in the yard, people are tempted to use it to water their gardens,” Moraka said.

This was happening as the country was gripped by a drought which has devastated people, animals and land.

“Unfortunately, it seems outreach programmes are just not cracking it. The message is just not getting across,” he said. This was evident in eThekwini, where according to municipal speaker Logie Naidoo, there were no signs of a decrease in consumption.

“We need to inculcate a culture of saving water,” said Naidoo. He recalled how in his primary school days, they were taught: “Water; use it, don’t abuse it.”

Moraka said Salga research had shown that there was a relationship between affordability and consumption.

For instance, in an affluent Johannesburg suburb he would not name, their research had found that consumption was at 600 litres per person, compared to the general 150 to 200 litres a person.

This “consumption without conscience” was possibly fuelled by water service providers not charging a “cost reflective tariff.”

Umgeni Water chief executive, Cyril Gamede, said municipalities needed to wake up to the “uncomfortable” subject of tarriffs. Some municipalities, he said, spent more providing water than the revenue they received for it.

Selling water at below cost ingratiated residents to the municipalities - until services collapsed. “People (then) go to the street (to protest). Many service delivery protests were over water,” he said.

He said the drought had been a blessing in that it reminded people how important water was.

“South Africa is spoiled in that we always have water and we use it in a way which shows we don’t understand water is a scarce commodity,” said Gamede.

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