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Mr Chideme

Ruwende Municipal Reporter
Harare City Council says it charges pre-paid water meter users 25 cents for 1 000 litres of water supplied in high density suburbs while those in medium and low density suburbs will folk out 40 cents for the same amount of water.

The city recently rolled out a pilot project to install pre-paid water meters in Sunningdale, Bluffhill, Kambuzuma, Greendale, Avenues and Avondale.

The suburbs will be used as a case study to measure the system’s effectiveness.

According to council, on average a family uses 700 litres a day.

Anything above 1000 litres is priced at 25 cents.

The cost is incremental and council hopes that this will help in water conservation.

City spokesperson Mr Michael Chideme said since the introduction of the pre-paid water system, council has noticed a raised awareness among consumers on water conservation.

Some residents are now recycling water.

“People are now concerned with leaks on their pipes. We have introduced vending sites at our district offices and we will open on weekends to allow residents to access water as and when they require it.

“All meters from the five companies have a credit facility of 3 000 litres which residents can borrow and pay when they pay to buy more. This has been done to cater for emergencies like funerals and illnesses. Customers can also use plastic money,” he said.

He said the meters being installed were “intelligent” and cut water supplies on sensing a leak.

This means residents will not be billed for water not consumed.

Mr Chideme said all the five companies contracted were now on the ground.