The first African Water Leakages Summit took place in Cape Town last week. The summit received strong support from the City of Cape Town.

The summit was aimed at all water utility managers and technical personnel wishing to gain further insight into various aspects of water demand management and reduction of non-revenue water within a water supply system, and addressed the important issues of efficient operation and management of water utilities.

It was recently estimated that the annual non-revenue water component for municipal reticulation systems across South Africa is in the order of 1500 million Kilolitres. This figure represents over 35% of the system output. It is therefore a priority for municipalities across the country to address their non-revenue water losses and this summit aimed to provide the support and direction to assist them.

Clive Justus, Mayoral Committee Member for Utility Services, said: “The City regards the issue of water losses and water wastage in a serious light and, over the past years, has escalated the development of a wide range of water conservation and water demand management initiatives (encompassing technical, social economic and institutional components).  These initiatives are proving to be both effective and efficient in decreasing water losses thus increasing access to our existing water resources.  Pressure management, infrastructure leak detection, leak repairs on private property, pipe replacement, meter audits and creation of district metered areas are some of the initiatives undertaken by the City.  Awareness and education programmes play a vital role  in ensuring the success of these initiatives.”