Cape Town residents are urged to assist the City tackle vandalism and theft of water and sanitation infrastructure in communities. Over the past eight months, there has been an increase in stolen water meters reported across the city.
According to the City, more than 3300 incidents have been reported from 1 July 2021 to 30 April 2022. The City said this is an increase of 1 143 stolen water meters compared to the previous financial year’s figures over a shorter period.
Some of the areas where there has been an increase in stolen meters between 1 July 2021 and 30 April 2022 include Steenberg, Retreat, Grassy Park, Strand, Athlone, Woodstock, Ottery, Bellville South, Lentegeur, Manenberg and Belgravia.
The City is no longer installing brass water meters and is only installing plastic water meters due to the scrap value of the brass water meters.
The City’s mayoral committee member for Water and Sanitation, Councillor Zahid Badroodien, said the brass water meters are being targeted and it will take some time before all meters are replaced with plastic ones. He said the cost for the City to replace a stolen/damaged 15mm water meter is R3 260,60 while the cost for a stolen/damaged 20mm water meter is R3 744,60.
He urged residents to help the City of Cape Town tackle vandalism and theft of water and sanitation infrastructure. “We ask residents to please be vigilant and to report these incidents so it can be investigated to clamp down on this reckless, inconsiderate behaviour that has a knock-on effect on residents.
“Stealing a water meter from a property causes major inconvenience for the affected household as they have no water supply until their meter is replaced. When such incidents occur, the City makes every effort to replace these reported stolen meters in the shortest timeframe. Also, the money spent on replacing the meters could have been used elsewhere,,” he said.
A reward of up to R5 000 is being offered to any resident who reports incidents or information related to the theft and vandalism of water and sanitation infrastructure that lead to a successful arrest or recovery of stolen equipment.
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