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Rutendo Rori Herald Reporter
Harare City Council will this month roll out a pilot project for smart prepaid water meters in six suburbs.

In an interview yesterday, the city’s acting corporate communications manager, Mr Michael Chideme, said 2 000 smart meters would be installed.

The city invited residents of Bluffhill/Madokero, Sunningdale, Kambuzuma, Greendale, Avondale and the Avenues to register for the installation at their local district offices.

Mr Chideme said the installation of prepaid meters would enable the city to manage water consumption and facilitate equitable distribution of the scarce commodity. “Prepaid smart water meters are principally a water management tool designed to enable the residents to manage their water consumption, internal losses and the money that they spend on water and ensure that the subsequent bills they receive from council are accurate.

“The tool also helps pinpoint where leaks could be occurring hence help reduce non-revenue water,” said Mr Chideme.

He said estimations were that the city could reduce costs by close to 30 percent as a result of reduction of non-revenue water. “Smart metering is a water conservation tool, which can enable Harare residents to optimise water use and help the city to equitably distribute the commodity to all suburbs.