Durban - The amount of water lost in eThekwini municipality on a daily basis calculated in litres equates to about 615 million litres per day.
Action SA councillor Alan Beesley made the calculation recently during a debate in council after it was revealed that the latest water loss figure was now standing at around 57.3%.
The amount is for the 2022/23 financial year.
The city is faced with an imposing challenge of containing the escalating losses on non-revenue water which is lost through a variety of means including theft, leaks or not being billed for.
Earlier this year, the auditor-general raised concern over the losses saying in the 2021/22 financial year, the city bought about 402 million kl of water but sold only about 175 million kl.
Speaking on the latest City budget statement, Beesley said while there were a number of serious concerns in the statement, there were two alarming revelations, and one of those was the escalating water losses.
“High water losses – the water losses were 57.3%. This is a new record. More than 615 million litres of water are being lost daily (literally going down the drain). In monetary terms this equates to over R2 billion being lost a year. These water losses continue to increase and clearly demonstrate the poor state of the city’s infrastructure.”
He added that the other issue was the rising debt owed to the municipality.
“In one year, the amount owing to the city has increased by R5bn from R19bn to R24bn. This increase is unsustainable and will ultimately have a negative impact on the current low levels of service delivery with the city.”
ANC councillors said the city had taken numerous steps to manage its finances, including measures to deal with water losses.