Blantyre Water Board (BWB) has complained about recent loss of water. This is includes high energy costs when distributing water to its customers among other issues. The Distribution Manager, Booker Waya, made the remarks earlier on this week. He said that as a result the board is losing 50% of the water it pumps from Walkers Ferry due to leakages as well as burst pipes every day.
He further added that half of the water produced does not amount as part of their revenue due to leakages resulting from old pipes. As problem remains unsolved the board incurs losses. Additionally, the meters in use are very old such that they are not accurate enough to measure the water that is passing through. This is also another issue costing them money.
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Waya said BWB is incurring high energy costs due to the pumping a lot of water which in return is not giving them enough revenue. He pointed out replacement of old pipes as well as meters as one way of rectifying the loss of water problem.
According to him, 20km of old pipelines have been replaced so far. There are also plans to replace another 50km between June 2017 and July 2018. As far as meters are concerned, 3, 000 prepaid meters have been installed this year. The board is also looking to buy 10,000 more so as to minimize billing queries.
Billing complaints
On the other hand, there have been reports of high water bills by some of the residents. The distribution manager noted that there had been a problem with the meters. He explained that the old meters had delays in cutting and were undercharging. The new meters are working efficiently, and this could be what the residents are complaining about. Waya urged customers to be mindful of leakages that take place after the meter since this water is accounted for on their bills hence some of the billing complaints.
