Thoughtless skelms are stealing brass water meters, causing fresh water to flood the streets of Grassy Park.
Crime-fighters say the trend has them worried as homeowners are left without water for days.
Grassy Park Community Police Forum (CPF) chairperson Melvin Jonkers says the theft has increased over the past month.
“The theft of water meters is rampant across Grassy Park with the thieves targeting specifically the old brass meters which are sold as scrap metal,” he says.
“We had this problem about three years ago but then the City of Cape Town started replacing the old brass meters with the plastic ones which left nothing for them to steal.
“Now they are going around and finding homes that still have the old meters. It's easy for them to tell which ones are brass as they have a metal cover.”
The City’s Xanthea Limberg confirms they are aware of the problem and says during April, 49 meters were stolen.
“There have been instances where numbers were reaching around 105 stolen meters per month,” she says.
“Brass water meters are often stolen for their secondary monetary value (street value) and sold at scrap yards.
“The City is now replacing brass water meters with plastic water meters. This means that brass meters are gradually being phased out.
“The average cost to replace a brass water meter with that of a 15mm or 20mm plastic meter is R1 870 and R1 955.”
Jonkers says it’s a lengthy process to get the meter replaced and often means the household goes without water for several days.
“Imagine waking up and finding a skelm has stolen your meter now you can't even bathe or cook. And what about all that fresh water now going to waste?
“But obviously there is a market for it and we are calling on scrap yard owners to stop buying these meters or any other metal that is municipal property.”