Department of Water Affairs

Water Requirements and Availability Reconciliation Strategy for Mbombela

Municipal Area

Water Conservation and Water Demand Management Component

30 April 2013

• To make more effective and efficient use of the existing and available water resources by all water use sectors in the study area;

• To develop realistic water saving targets for the respective water use sectors and quantify the impact on current and future water requirements in the study area;

• To enable the Catchment Management Agency (CMA) and the Department of Water Affairs (DWA) to “free-up” additional water, which can be put to beneficial use in the public interest;

Objectives

• To conserve water and avoid or delay the implementation of further expensive schemes for transfers and storage which may not be necessary if water is used efficiently; and

• To provide necessary information to support the implementation of compulsory licensing and related water allocation reforms.

Objectives…

System

Input

Volume

Authorised

Consumption

RevenueWater

Non

Revenue

Water

BilledAuthorised

Consumption

UnbilledAuthorised

Consumption

ApparentLosses

RealLosses

Water

Losses

Billed Metered Consumption

Unbilled Unmetered Consumption

Unauthorised Consumption

Customer Meter Inaccuracies

Leakage on Transmission andDistribution Mains

Billed Unmetered Consumption

Unbilled Metered Consumption

Leakage on Service Connections up to point of Customer Meter

Leakage and Overflows at Storage Tanks

Free basic

WCWDM Key Performance Indicators

Environmentally and financially

unattractive

Water security

and efficiency

Efficiency and financial viability

Efficiency and Non-revenue water

System Input

Volume=

400 ℓ/c/d

Revenue Water

Non-Revenue

Water= 20%

System Input

Volume=

40 ℓ/c/d

Revenue Water

Non-Revenue

Water

80%

Low non-revenue water butinefficient water use

High non-revenue water butvery efficient water use

Augmentationnot recommended

Augmentationa possibility

System Input

Volume=

400 ℓ/c/d

Revenue Water

Non-Revenue

Water=

40%

High non-revenue water andinefficient water use

Augmentationnot recommended

Strategy Targets– Efficiency

• Target 180 to 200 litres per capita per day• Impacts on water security and next augmentation

– Non-revenue water• >50% target 40%• 30% to 50% target 25%• <30% target 15%• Impacts on revenue and water use efficiency

– Water losses• Same as NRW with unbilled consumption not more than 5% of

system input volume• Financially and environmentally not acceptable

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Mbombela TargetsIndicator Current

ValueRealistic Target

Optimistic Target

System Input volume (million m3/a) 54.71 48.87 43.03

System Input volume (Mℓ / day) 149.79 133.80 117.80

Billed Authorised Consumption (million m3/a) 26.73 28.62 29.07

Unbilled Authorised Consumption (million m3/a) 8.90 8.27 6.47

Water Losses (million m3/a) 19.08 11.98 7.49

Non-revenue Water (million m3/a) 27.98 20.25 13.96

% Non-revenue water 51% 41% 32%

% Water Losses 35% 25% 17%

Input Volume (litres / capita / day) 277 247 218

Input Volume (m3 / household / month) 32 29 26

Authorised Consumption (litres / capita / day) 180 187 180

Authorised Consumption (m3 / household / month) 21 22 21

Target Summary

AreaNRW (%) Water Losses (%) Efficiency (l/c/d)

Current Realistic Target Current Realistic

Target Current Realistic Target

Nelspruit 27% 20% 22% 15% 723 614

White River 37% 30% 32% 25% 470 423

Karino 15% 15% 10% 10% 137 137

Matsulu 80% 60% 40% 30% 292 248

Hazyview 55% 40% 48% 30% 485 413

Nsikazi North 60% 50% 33% 25% 179 170

Nsikazi South 60% 50% 45% 30% 235 211

Mbombela 51% 41% 35% 25% 277 247

InterventionsINSTITUTIONAL / LEGISLATIVE INTERVENTIONS• Institutional review• Training and education • Customer charter, policy, bylaws

FINANCIAL INTERVENTIONS• Effective metering and billing • Water tariffs • Informative billing

SOCIAL INTERVENTIONS• Consumer Awareness Campaign • Consumer Help and Support Desk • Schools awareness

TECHNICAL INTERVENTIONS• Bulk metering • Sectorisation • Active Leakage Control • Valve audits• Leak and logging equipment • Telemetry • Retrofitting and removal of wasteful

devices • Mains replacement • Pressure management • Control valve management • Consumer metering • Top consumer audit • GIS / CAD system • Management Information System • Water loss monitoring and audits

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Recommendations• Setup task group (political, technical, finance) to meet

on monthly basis to discuss WDM issues – losses, billing, leak repairs, etc.

• Fill vacancies, training & capacity building• Focus on record keeping and management

information• Comply with legislation, regulations and RPMS• Resolve intermittent supply• Review tariff structures• Fix all visible and private leaks

WCWDM Regulations under WSAR509 of 2001

• Reg (3) Community awareness and customer service

• Reg (3) and (4) – Eradicate intermittent supply• Reg (10) – Water audit as part of WSDP• Reg (11) – Water balance and sectorisation• Reg (12) – Repair of leaks• Reg (13) – Consumer metering• Reg (15) – Pressure management

Way forward• Improve management information• Adopt strategies and business plans• Include budgets in IDP• Implement WC/WDM programme• Report to Water Affairs on

– Key performance indicators– Actions– Successes and failures– Plan Do Check Act

THANK YOU

Irrigation: Overall conclusions

• Irrigated agriculture in the Mbombela Municipal area is generally under serious threat due to a number of key factors including:– Reducing assurance of supply due to growing erosion of

available water resources to other sectors– Reducing water quality– Rapidly escalating pumping (electricity) costs which are

effectively forcing higher levels of water use efficiency.– Low morale in the agricultural sector (affecting investment

and productivity).

Irrigation: Overall conclusions…

• Consequently the irrigation sector is unlikely to be willing to further reduce its supplies through water trading.

• Cutting back on unlawful water use is one way of making more water available to legitimate users, or for further licence allocations.