Brian Black, Edgemead
I read with interest the letter from Glynis Stamp in your November 2 edition.
About six years ago, I had my water meter moved by the municipality from inside my property to the outside.
They replaced it with the old-type water meter.
About four years later, my water account shot up from about R160 a month to over R800 a month.
On checking the ground around the water meter, which was now on my pavement, I saw the ground was very wet.
I phoned the municipality who came out to check it, and when they dug around the meter they found the pipe to be leaking on my side of the water meter.
They therefore said I was responsible for the additional cost.
Fortunately, I took photographs of what they found when they dug up the ground and the water pipes were visible.
The workmanship on the plumbing, when they had previously moved my water meter was atrocious and clearly would eventually lead to the leak I had experienced.
Furthermore, although the leak was on my side of the water meter, it was still on municipal property.
So the legal question really arises as to whether I was actually responsible for the leak as it did not occur on my property.
The end result was that the municipality monitored my water account for the next three months after the leak was fixed and gave me a credit on my water account for the overcharge which had happened previously.
I did not pay anything for the repair either.
Regarding the “electronic” water meter, I believe these are using radio frequency to take the readings and there has been a very high incidence of faulty meters or incorrect meter readings.
I understand Glynis’s frustration.
Even the municipality can see that her account has shot up since the water meter was installed.
It therefore clearly indicates a faulty meter or a leaking water pipe in the area of the installation and clearly a problem the municipality should attend to immediately – or do Level 3 water saving procedures not apply to the municipality?
