The City of Cape Town says it spent almost R4 million on replacing stolen water meters.
It said about 2 255 water metres have been stolen between July 2022 and May 2023, which cost the City’s Water and Sanitation Directorate about R3.9m to replace.
While the City is making proactive efforts to replace brass meters with plastic ones, residents can also help tackle vandalism and theft of water and sanitation infrastructure by reporting information to authorities.
Still, it said the number of water meters replaced, due to theft, has decreased from 2676 for the period of July 2021 to May 2022, to 2255 water metres when compared to the same period this past year.
Between July 2022 to May 2023, Ottery, Kensington, Lentegeur, Westridge, Wynberg, Lotus River, Portland, Milnerton, Tafelsig and Glenhaven have been the top 10 areas affected by theft of water meters.
For context, the total water meter population is 683 306.
Mayco member for Water and Sanitation, Zahid Badroodien, said the City is no longer installing brass water meters due to their scrap value.
“The City has put out a reward for anyone with information that can lead to the arrest of suspects who are vandalising or stealing our water and sanitation infrastructure, including water meters,” said Badroodien.
To piemp a skelm call 0800 11 00 77.
If your confidential information leads to an arrest or recovery of stolen property by the City’s Law Enforcement or Metro Police, you can get a reward of up to R5 000.