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Harare City Council is removing water meters from defaulting ratepayers, raising the ire of residents.

Acting town clerk Engineer Hosiah Chisango confirmed that the city had resorted to taking such action to ensure there was no illegal access to water.

“We expect people to pay their bills for the water they consume. When they do not pay after 90 days they are given time to pay after which they are disconnected.

“We have noticed that after the normal disconnection where you have to put a disc just around the meter people have a tendency of reconnecting themselves, which is illegal.”

He said as soon as residents pay their reconnection fees, they get their meter back and start accessing water.

Eng Chisango said those likely to be affected are those who go beyond 90 or 120 days without paying for their water.

“Disconnections are being done across the city. We have eight zones so the staff in each zone carry out the disconnections. If you find that disconnections are high in high-density areas it is because there are the people who are getting water all the time,” he said. — Herald Reporter.