Residents drowning with City of Cape Town’s water tariff charges

Published Nov 3, 2024

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With the cost of living ever increasing and South Africans struggling to stay afloat, residents in the City of Cape Town say a water tariff has them struggling to pay their rates.

The City of Cape Town currently has a fixed basic charge attached to ratepayers' water bill.

Speaking to IOL, a resident within the City of Cape Town, *Kimberley Christians, from Parow, said she was already struggling and the fixed basic charge was money out of her pocket.

“I am struggling to pay my rates and keep it up to date and any unnecessary charge is money out of my pocket and out of my children’s school fees. Money out of me buying more groceries,” Christians said.

“So, anything that can aid, whether it be R50 or R300 it doesn't matter, if we are paying for something we don’t have to then the City needs to answer it's not fair to those who cannot even afford to pay their rates,” she said.

“There are people whose water is being cut off or receiving letters from the City daily and it's not fair. We cannot afford to live in this city. We cannot afford to live in the City Bowl and now we can’t even afford to pay our rates? Something has to be done.”

Many residents share this sentiment after Day Zero was avoided and in recent months, the City and surrounding municipal areas were flooded several times due to adverse weather conditions.

In July, a GOOD party councillor within the City of Cape Town, Lulama Benge tabled a motion to have this tariff removed. But, this was declined.

In a statement from July 26, Benge stated the City of Cape Town needed to explain to its residents why they were still paying a fixed water charge that was only supposed to provide temporary relief to the municipality during the drought.

“The water restrictions imposed due to poor rainfall in 2018 resulted in greatly reduced revenue from water usage which impacted the City’s ability to cover the maintenance costs,” Benge said at the time.

“At the time, then Mayor Patricia De Lille advocated for a temporary drought levy which could be abandoned when the City’s water supply was more secure as a result of the water augmentation measures or good rains,” he said.

“However, the City, or rather DA caucus, opted to rework the water tariff structure and included a fixed component that was absurdly based on the size of the pipes.”

He said the fix component on the pipes were

- 15 mm cost R87.29

- 20 mm cost R155.87

- 25 mm cost R243.15

“It is immoral to punish ratepayers at a time they can least afford it by continuing to charge what are in effect drought surcharges when our dams are all full,” Benge said.

He said GOOD tabled a motion in Council to demand that this fixed charged be withdrawn.

“However, the [Democratic Alliance] DA and the [African National Congress] ANC rejected the motion, essentially telling residents that they need to carry this financial burden on behalf of a City that has more than enough money in the bank,” Benge said.

“GOOD calls on the City of Cape Town to reassess its water tariffs and water plan to ensure that this fixed charge can be withdrawn and unnecessary pressure taken off consumers.”

But, the City of Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for water and sanitation, Councillor Ziahid Badroodien said it had always had a water tariff before the drought, but, the fixed basic charge part of the tariff was introduced during the drought.

“The City is not charging a ‘drought levy’. A ‘drought levy’ was never approved. A ‘drought levy’ is also not the fixed basic charge. Currently, residents pay on average between 5c - 8c a litre for Cape Town tap water,” Badroodien said.

“The water tariff is made up of both a usage (or variable) charge, which depends on how much water is used, and a fixed basic charge. This tariff is used to recover the cost of supplying a reliable water service.”

He said this includes the operational cost associated with the establishment of major infrastructure catchment and treatment of water, operation of the distribution systems as well as repairs and maintenance of infrastructure such as:

– 11,319km of water pipes;

– 12 water treatment plants;

– 180 reservoirs;

– More than 9,266km of sewer pipes;

– 490 wastewater pump stations;

– 92 water pump stations;

– 23 Wastewater Treatment Works;

– 296 km of treated effluent pipes and 11 treated effluent pump stations.

“These costs remain largely the same regardless of the dam levels and the volumetric usage and therefore, the tariffs are set to recover the cost of providing the service,” he said.

“The fixed basic charge is part of the total water two-part tariff structure, consisting of a fixed basic charge and a consumption-based volumetric component, that the City needs to recover the cost of supplying a reliable water service.”

Badroodien said it is needed so the City can continue to pay for and provide reliable water services to Cape Town.

Should the fixed basic charge be removed, Badroodien said it would lead to a significant deficit and the standard usage part of the tariff would need to be substantially increased.

“The fixed basic charge creates stability and reliability in the Water and Sanitation Directorate’s revenue forecast which is used to fund the directorate's operating expenditure and the operational cost associated with the Capital Expenditure Programme. This includes projects such as the New Water Programme (NWP), the Water Pipe Replacement Programme and other projects that will help build a resilient service,” Badroodien said.

When asked how Capetonians who are struggling can be assisted, he responded:

“The lowest (no restriction) tariff has already been in effect from November 1, 2020. The cost of providing the water service remains largely the same regardless of how much or how little water flows through the system and water residents use, or is in our dams,” Badroodien said.

“Please note: registered indigent households do not pay the fixed basic charge and about 40% of registered indigent households in Cape Town get an allocation of water free of charge.”

Residents are being encouraged to manage their water usage and check for leaks on their pipes as this would also assist in reducing water bills.

“The City encourages residents to contact the City to enter into payment arrangements with the City should they not be able to pay their municipal accounts or apply for indigent benefits as mentioned above,” Badroodien added.

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IOL

*Not real name being used