Uthukela District Municipality Water Distribution Management

UTHUKELA DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY WATER DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT

5‐YEAR STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR THE REDUCTION OF NON‐REVENUE WATER IN THE UTHUKELA DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY

Address 24 Alexander Rd Unit 19 Alexander Park Westmead, Pinetown Version 2.0 KZN, South Africa June 2016 3610

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Version Control Approval Control Version Approved: Version Changes Changes made Date Number Instructed by by Approval Type Designation Signature Date 1 V1.0 IM Pena 2016/03/31 Supported

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ENQUIRIES AND CONTACT

Document enquiries can be directed to:

JOAT Group

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Ignacio M 24 Alexander Rd +27 71 864 [email protected] Tel: +27 31 700 1177 Peña Unit 19 Alexander Pk 1845 Fax: +27 31 700 9853 Westmead, Pinetown KZN, 3610

UThukela District Municipality – 5‐Year Strategic Management Plan for Reduction of Non‐Revenue Water

5‐YEAR STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR THE REDUCTION OF NON‐REVENUE WATER IN THE UTHUKELA DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY

Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary ...... xii 1.1 Introduction and Background ...... xii 1.2 Summarised Non‐Revenue Water Reduction Framework ...... xii 1.3 System Characteristics ...... xiii 1.4 Current Situation ...... xiv 1.5 Institutional, Social, Economic and Technical Challenges for UDM to reduce NRW levels .....xvi 1.6 Future Projections ...... xviii 1.7 Non‐Revenue Water Reduction Targets ...... xx 1.8 NRW Interventions and Supply Areas priorities ...... xxi 1.9 Key Challenges for the WC/WDM Master Plan ...... xxii 1.10 Critical Success Factors ...... xxiv 1.11 Resource Management ...... xxiv 1.12 Conclusions and Recommendations ...... xxiv 2 Background ...... 27 2.1 Municipality Background ...... 27 2.2 NRW Master Plan Background ...... 28 3 Objectives of Water Conservation/Water Demand Management Strategy ...... 29 4 Legislative Framework ...... 30 4.1 Legal Framework ...... 30 4.2 Policy Framework ...... 30 4.3 National Water Resource Strategy ...... 31 5 Limitations of Strategic Plan ...... 35 6 Research Framework ...... 36 6.1 International Best Practice International Water Association – Losses from Water Supply Systems: Standard Terminology and Recommended Performance Measures ...... 36 6.2 Performance Indicators for Water Supply Services – Data Confidence Grading ...... 41 6.3 National Best Practice: SABS 0306 – The Management of Potable Water in Distribution Systems ...... 43 6.4 Water Conservation/Water Demand Management General Approach ...... 44 6.5 Methodology Used for the UThukela District Municipality Water Balance ...... 46

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7 Water Conservation/Water Demand Management within the UThukela District Municipality ...... 47 7.1 Definition and Extent of Area of Operation ...... 47 7.2 Institutional Impact, Influence and Dependency Model ...... 47 7.3 Acknowledgement of WC/WDM in Other Key Municipal Documents ...... 50 7.4 Profile and Structure of WC/WDM Department ...... 50 7.5 Institutional, Social, Economic and Technical Challenges for UDM ...... 50 8 Review of Water Conservation/Water Demand Management Activities to Date ...... 52 8.1 Programmes ...... 52 9 Situation Analysis (Baseline) ...... 53 9.1 Source Data Supplied for Master Plan ...... 53 9.2 Integrity of Information Supplied for Master Plan ...... 53 9.3 Operational Schematic ...... 54 9.4 Billing Database Analysis ...... 54 9.5 Baseline Water Balance ...... 61 9.6 Current WC/WDM Budget Allocations ...... 71 9.7 Key Performance Indicators ...... 72 9.8 Demand Projections ...... 75 10 Key Challenges Identified in Implementing WC/WDM Activities ...... 76 11 Water Conservation/Water Demand Management Implementation Strategy ...... 78 11.1 Overall Target for Non‐Revenue Water Reduction ...... 78 11.2 Available Non‐Revenue Water Reduction Interventions ...... 78 12 Non‐Revenue Water Reduction Implementation Strategy ...... 83 12.1 Non‐Revenue Water Reduction Interactive Model ...... 83 12.2 Minimum Achievable Levels of Non‐Revenue Water ...... 83 12.3 Detailed Intervention Strategy...... 84 12.4 Impact of WC/WDM Intervention on Water Balance Components ...... 87 12.5 Medium‐Term Target Water Balance and Selected Key Performance Indicators ...... 87 12.6 Benefits of Non‐Revenue Water Reduction ...... 89 12.7 Critical Success/Enabling Factors ...... 90 12.8 Overall Economic Analysis ...... 91 13 Non‐Revenue Water Reduction Programme ...... 92 13.1 Non‐Revenue Water Reduction Intervention Work Plan ...... 92 13.2 Priority Non‐Revenue Water Reduction Interventions ...... 92 14 Funding Strategy ...... 92

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14.1 Funding Requirements ...... 92 14.2 In‐House Resource Development ...... 93 15 Resource Management Strategy ...... 93 15.1 Option 1 – Current Funding Limitations ...... 93 15.2 Option 2 – Additional Funding Availability ...... 94 15.3 In‐House Resource Development ...... 95 16 Quality Assurance and Performance Management ...... 95 17 Monitoring and Evaluation ...... 96 17.1 Monthly Reporting Requirements ...... 96 17.2 Annual Reporting Requirements and Programme Review ...... 97 18 Risk Management ...... 97 19 Communication Management ...... 97 20 Conclusions and Recommendations ...... 98 21 Annexures ...... 100

List of Annexure

Annexure A: UDM WC/WDM Strategy ...... 100

Annexure B: System Operational Schematics ...... 100

Annexure C: Billing Data Analysis (FY 2014/2015) ...... 100

Annexure D: System Input Volumes details (FY 2013/2014) ...... 100

Annexure E: Operational Report (example) ...... 100

Annexure F: Water Balances obtained from the predictive model ...... 100

Annexure G: Work Plan template ...... 100

Annexure H: Reporting requirements ...... 100

Annexure I: Risk Management ...... 100

Annexure J: Communication Plan ...... 100

List of Figures

Figure 1: UThukela District Municipality borders and Local Municipalities ...... xiv

Figure 2: UDM Water Balance 2014/2015 FY (Current situation) ...... xvi

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Figure 3: Scenario 1 ‐ UDM Water Balance 2019/2020 FY (No interventions) ...... xviii

Figure 4: Scenario 2 ‐ UDM Water Balance 2018/2019 FY (with interventions) ...... xix

Figure 5: UThukela District Municipality borders and Local Municipalities ...... 28

Figure 6: Roles of Water Sector Institutions for WC/WDM ...... 32

Figure 7: Elements of Water Demand Management ...... 34

Figure 8: UThukela District Municipality Non‐Revenue Water Reduction Programme Implementation 35

Figure 9: Components of an IWA Water Balance ...... 38

Figure 10: Relative Importance of Recommended Water Losses and Non‐Revenue Water Indicators .. 40

Figure 11: Infrastructure Leakage Index (ILI) Values from 27 Water Supply Systems in 20 Countries (as compiled by IWA Water Losses Task Force) ...... 41

Figure 12: UThukela District Municipality NRW Reduction Approach...... 46

Figure 13: Current Impact of Non‐Revenue Water Area on Other Areas of Operation ...... 48

Figure 14: Current Influence of Non‐Revenue Water Area on Other Areas of Operation ...... 49

Figure 15: Current Dependency of Non‐Revenue Water Area on Other Areas of Operation ...... 49

Figure 16: Billing Database Integrity for the complete UThukela District Municipality: 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 56

Figure 17: Billing Database Integrity for Ladysmith and Steadville: 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 56

Figure 18: Billing Database Integrity for Ezakheni: 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 56

Figure 19: Billing Database Integrity for Colenso: 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 57

Figure 20: Billing Database Integrity for Moyeni/Zwelisha & Langkloof: 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 57

Figure 21: Billing Database Integrity for Winterton: 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 57

Figure 22: Billing Database Integrity for Bergville: 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 57

Figure 23: Billing Database Integrity for Estcourt: 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 57

Figure 24: Billing Database Integrity for Weenen: 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 57

Figure 25: Billing Database Integrity for Indaka LM: 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 57

Figure 26: Billing Database Integrity for Imbabazane LM: 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 57

Figure 27: Free Basic Water Allocation for the complete UThukela District Municipality (Number of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 58

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Figure 28: Free Basic Water Allocation for the complete UThukela District Municipality (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 58

Figure 29: Free Basic Water Allocation for Ladysmith and Steadville (Number of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 59

Figure 30: Free Basic Water Allocation for Ladysmith and Steadville Areas of Supply (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 59

Figure 31: Free Basic Water Allocation for Ezakheni (Number of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year ..... 59

Figure 32: Free Basic Water Allocation for Ezakheni Area of Supply (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year 59

Figure 33: Free Basic Water Allocation for Colenso (Number of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 59

Figure 34: Free Basic Water Allocation for Colenso Area of Supply (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year . 59

Figure 35: Free Basic Water Allocation for Moyeni/Zwelisha & Langkloof (Number of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 59

Figure 36: Free Basic Water Allocation for Moyeni/Zwelisha & Langkloof Areas of Supply (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 59

Figure 37: Free Basic Water Allocation for Winterton (Number of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year ... 59

Figure 38: Free Basic Water Allocation for Winterton Area of Supply (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 59

Figure 39: Free Basic Water Allocation for Bergville (Number of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 60

Figure 40: Free Basic Water Allocation for Bergville Area of Supply (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year 60

Figure 41: Free Basic Water Allocation for Estcourt (Number of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 60

Figure 42: Free Basic Water Allocation for Estcourt Area of Supply (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year . 60

Figure 43: Free Basic Water Allocation for Weenen (Number of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 60

Figure 44: Free Basic Water Allocation for Weenen Area of Supply (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year 60

Figure 45: Free Basic Water Allocation for Indaka LM (Number of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year ... 60

Figure 46: Free Basic Water Allocation for Indaka LM Areas of Supply (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 60

Figure 47: Free Basic Water Allocation for Imbabazane LM (Number of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 60

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Figure 48: Free Basic Water Allocation for Imbabazane LM Areas of Supply (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 60

Figure 49: Guidelines for Determination of Apparent Loss/Total Water Loss Ratio ...... 65

Figure 50: Components of Minimum Night Flow ...... 66

Figure 51: Entire UDM Current Water Balance with 95% Confidence Levels: Standard Presentation ... 70

Figure 52: Typical Ranges of IWA Performance Indicators ...... 73

Figure 53: The Four Component Approach to the Control of Real Losses ...... 79

Figure 54: The Four Component Approach to the Control of Apparent Losses ...... 82

Figure 55: Entire UDM 5‐Year Projected Water Balance with proposed interventions ...... 88

Figure 56: Comparison of Selected WB Components with and without Recommended NRW Reduction Intervention ...... 90

Figure 57: Comparison of Selected NRW KPI’s with and without Recommended NRW Reduction Intervention ...... 90

Figure 58: Comparison of ILI with and without NRW Reduction Intervention ...... 90

Figure 59: Entire UThukela District Intervention Cost‐Benefit Analysis ...... 91

Figure 60: Guideline UDM NRW Human Resource Requirements for Full‐Scale Rollout of WC/WDM Programme (Simplified Organogram) ...... 95

Figure 61: Example Components of a NRW Performance Management System ...... 96

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List of Tables

Table 1: UThukela District Municipality Key System Characteristics ...... xiv

Table 2: Financial Implications of Non‐Revenue Water Components ...... xv

Table 3: Comparison of Key Performance Indicators, ...... xx

Table 4: NRW reduction interventions – prioritized by NRW reduction impact ...... xxi

Table 5: UDM NRW reduction interventions summary – strategy and priorities ...... xxi

Table 6: Billing Data Integrity Analysis for 2014 ‐ 2015 ‐ All Areas ...... xxiii

Table 7: International Water Association Data Reliability Bands ...... 42

Table 8: International Water Association Data Accuracy Bands ...... 42

Table 9: UThukela District Municipality Key System Characteristics ...... 47

Table 10: WC/WDM and Non‐Revenue Water Area of Influence ...... 48

Table 11: System Data Confidence Grading ...... 54

Table 12: Billing Data Integrity Analysis for 2014 ‐ 2015 ‐ All Areas ...... 55

Table 13: UThukela DM – Billing Database Integrity Analysis – 2014/15 Financial Year ...... 56

Table 14: UThukela DM: Billing Database Analysis ‐ Free Basic Water Allocations 2013/2014FY ...... 58

Table 15: UDM Systems ‐ Schemes’ System Input Volumes ...... 61

Table 16: UDM District Systems/ Schemes’ Billed Authorised Consumptions ...... 62

Table 17: UDM District Systems/ Schemes’ Unbilled Authorised Consumptions ...... 64

Table 18: UThukela District Municipality Systems/ Schemes’ Apparent Losses Analyses...... 65

Table 19: Ladysmith and Steadville Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance ...... 67

Table 20: Ezakheni Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance ...... 67

Table 21: Colenso Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance ...... 67

Table 22: Moyeni / Zwelisha & Langkloof Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance ...... 67

Table 23: Winterton Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance ...... 67

Table 24: Bergville Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance ...... 68

Table 25: Estcourt / Wembezi Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance ...... 68

Table 26: Weenen Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance ...... 68

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Table 27: Indaka LM Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance ...... 68

Table 28: Imbabazane LM Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance ...... 68

Table 29: Entire UDM Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance ...... 69

Table 30: Financial Implications of Non‐Revenue Water Components ...... 71

Table 31: Annual Cost of Water per System (Current) ...... 72

Table 32: Annual Cost of Non‐Revenue Water per System (2014/15 Financial Year) ...... 72

Table 33: Key Performance Indicators (per supply system) based on 2014/15 Financial Year Data ...... 73

Table 34: Entire UThukela District Projected Key Performance Indicators – Without NRW Reduction Intervention (Scenario 1) ...... 75

Table 35: Billing Data Integrity Analysis for 2014 ‐ 2015 ‐ All Areas ...... 77

Table 36: List of recommended interventions per System – including costs associated ...... 86

Table 37: UDM NRW reduction interventions summary – strategy and priorities ...... 86

Table 38: Comparison of Key Performance Indicators, Current and after the Completion of Intervention Strategies ...... 89

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ABBREVIATIONS

AC Asbestos Cement ACL Active leakage control AZP Average zone pressure BPT Break Pressure Tank ET Elevated Tower / Elevated Tank DM District municipality DMA District metering area D/S Downstream Pressure EWL Economic level of loss FSL Full supply level GIS Geographical information system GPR Ground penetrating radar IAM Infrastructure asset management ILI Infrastructure Leakage Index IDP Integrated development plan IRP Integrated resource planning IWA International Water Association KPI Key performance indicator ℓ/c/d Litres/capita/day LM Local municipality m3 Cubic meter MNF Minimum night flow NRW Non‐revenue water OH&S Occupational health and safety O&M Operation and maintenance PRV Pressure reducing valve PSV Pressure sustaining valve RWL Real water loss SIV System input volume STW Sewage Treatment Works ToR Terms of reference UARL Unavoidable annual real loss UDM UThukela District Municipality UfW/UAW Unaccounted for water U/S Upstream Pressure WC Water conservation WC/WDM Water conservation and water demand management WDM Water demand management WMA Water management area WSDP Water services development plan WSP Water services provider WTP Water treatment plant WTW Water treatment works (also referred to as waterworks) WUE Water use efficiency WWTW Wastewater treatment works

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Basic Terminology

Some of the standard international definitions used in this report have been included below for ease of reference and understanding:  System Input Volume is the volume of water input to a distribution system.

 Authorised Consumption is the volume of metered and/or unmetered water taken by registered consumers, the water supplier or others who are authorised to do so, for domestic, commercial and industrial purposes (authorised consumption includes items such as firefighting and training, flushing of mains and sewers, street cleaning, watering of municipal gardens, public fountains and building water. These may be billed or unbilled, metered or unmetered according to local practice).

 Billed Authorised Consumption: This is the volume of authorised consumption, which is billed by the water services authority (WSA) or water services provider (WSP) and paid for by the user. It is effectively the revenue water, which, in turn, comprises Billed Metered Consumption (BMC) and Billed Unmetered Consumption (BUC).

 Unbilled Authorised Consumption: This is the volume of authorised consumption that is not billed or paid for. The level of unbilled authorised consumption will vary and in some areas virtually all water is metered and billed in some manner with the result that the unbilled authorised consumption is zero.

 Water Losses of a system are calculated as: Water Losses = System Input Volume – Authorised Consumption Water losses can be considered as a total volume for the whole system, or for partial systems such as bulk or reticulation. In each case the components of the calculation would be adjusted accordingly. Water Losses consist of Real and Apparent losses, and are effectively identical to Unaccounted‐for Water.

 Real Losses are physical water losses from the distribution system, up to the point of consumer metering. The volume lost through all types of leaks, bursts and overflow depends on frequencies, flow rates and average durations of individual leaks.

 Apparent Losses consist of unauthorised consumption (theft or illegal use) and all types of inaccuracies associated with bulk and consumer metering. For example, under‐registration of bulk meters and over‐registration of consumer meters leads to under‐estimation of losses. Conversely, over‐registration of bulk meters and under‐registration of consumer meters leads to over‐estimation of real losses.

 Unavoidable Annual Real Losses: The minimum level of real losses for a specific system that can be achieved under the most efficient operation conditions. It is an indication of the level of leakage that can theoretically be achieved if everything possible is done to minimise the leakage and is generally not an achievable target for most water suppliers since the unavoidable annual real losses is normally well below the economical level of leakage.

 Unauthorised Consumption is generally associated with the misuse of fire hydrants and fire service connections, and illegal connections.

 Non‐Revenue Water (NRW): is the difference between the System Input Volume and Billed Authorised Consumption. Non‐Revenue Water (NRW) is becoming the standard term replacing unaccounted‐for water in many water balance calculations and is the term

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recommended by the International Water Association in preference to unaccounted‐for water. NRW incorporates the following items: Unbilled Authorised Consumption; Apparent Losses; and Real Losses.

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UTHUKELA DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY

5‐YEAR STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR THE REDUCTION OF NON‐REVENUE WATER IN THE UTHUKELA DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Introduction and Background

The National Department of Water Affairs (DWA) has increased its regulation of the Water Conservation/Water Demand Management (WC/WDM) affairs of WSA’s and WSP’s throughout the country through the introduction of the No Drop assessments, which have been incorporated into the current Blue Drop reporting requirements. In support of this, the DWA KZN Regional Office initiated a KZN WC/WDM Forum through which all WSA’s in the Province could engage, prepare and strategise around reporting on and quantifying impact of WC/WDM intervention on available water resources.

Regular reporting in the form of water balances had been a standing requirement from all WSA’s, as well as the recording of the volume of water saved on a quarterly basis from WC/WDM initiatives; however, the frequency and quality of the reporting from the Province has been and remains, poor. Some of the reasons advanced from the WSA’s for this were lack of human resources, appropriate skills and lack of necessary information. The DWA KZN Regional Office therefore applied to the Accelerated Community Infrastructure Program (ACIP) for funding to assist the WSA’s in complying with the No Drop assessments over a three‐year period.

Funding has been approved for this purpose for the first year only, with the following objectives:

‐ Provide hands‐on technical support to all KZN WSA’s with specific emphasis on support to ensure that all WSA’s can comply with No Drop reporting requirements; ‐ Ensure that water balances (to the IWA modified standard and with 95% confidence limits) can be produced on a regular basis on a WSA, town, and water supply system basis; ‐ Ensure that each WSA has sufficient bulk metering in place to accurately record System Input Volume (specifically that necessary to determine volumes on a water supply system basis) ‐ Improve monitoring and reporting on WC/WDM activities and quantification of water demand reduction across all WSA’s; ‐ Commence with the design and implementation of a pilot Customer Relations Management (CRM) system that incorporates a Fault Management System (FMS); and ‐ Commence projects focusing on system stabilisation, with the intention to move away from intermittent supply and thereby improve service delivery levels.

In addition, of the 14 WSA’s in the Province of KZN, a total of nine were identified as either not having or having an out‐dated WC/WDM Master Plan. The programme includes the completion of all outstanding Master Plans as key strategic and planning tool, which includes the UThukela District Municipality (UDM) plan.

1.2 Summarised Non‐Revenue Water Reduction Framework

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Master Plan, much of this information has been gained from multiple sources and has had to be trusted without independent verification. This aside, there is a high level of confidence in both the figures used and the recommendations made.

It must also be noted that this Master Plan has been of singular focus in terms of reducing NRW – it has not addressed the larger issues affecting water conservation, which must be borne in mind when interpreting the contents of the Master Plan.

Non‐Revenue Water, for the purposes of this Master Plan, is defined as the difference between System Input Volume (SIV) ‐ determined as the volume of water produced/bought for supply to a distribution system ‐ and the total Billed Metered Consumption (BMC). This Master Plan is concerned with volumes only – revenue collection and debt analysis did not form part of the scope of this appointment.

It was therefore decided to prepare a strategic Non‐Revenue Water Reduction Master Plan that covered a 5‐year outlook in terms of minimizing water losses through the Municipality’s area of supply. The objectives of this Master Plan were as follows:

 Determine the baseline situation in terms of water balances for each supply system in accordance with international and national best practice;

 Identify areas of possible NRW reduction, by water balance component and per supply system, prioritise these in order of impact and prepare a consolidated NRW Reduction Intervention programme;

 Establish targets in terms of NRW by volume, supported by Key Performance Indicators and budget/funding requirements;

 Address the internal requirements necessary for the successful implementation of a WC/WDM Programme in terms of resources, systems and critical success factors;

 Identify short‐term problems that are being experienced with the Municipality’s billing database and determine any necessary corrective actions; and

 Develop a software model that allowed UDM the flexibility to determine intervention impact, targets and budget requirements to suit changing needs and focus areas.

1.3 System Characteristics

The UThukela District Municipality (DC23) is one of ten District Municipalities in the Province of KwaZulu‐Natal. It is located on the western boundary of the KwaZulu‐Natal Province, and shares the border with the Kingdom of Lesotho and the Free State Province.

The uThukela District Municipality has its offices in Ladysmith and was designated a Water Services Authority for its area of jurisdiction in terms of the Municipal Structures Act (Act No. 117 of 1998). It is approximately 11 000 km2 in extent and comprises five local municipalities and one District Management Area (DMA), namely:

 Indaka Local Municipality  Umtshezi Local Municipality  Okhahlamba Local Municipality  Imbabazane Local Municipality  Emnambithi/Ladysmith Local Municipality

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 uThukela District Management Area (DMA)

Figure 1: UThukela District Municipality borders and Local Municipalities

Apart from the information that has already been included in the Water Safety Plan, the following key system information has been integrated into this report:

Table 1: UThukela District Municipality Key System Characteristics

Although all the efforts were made to obtain as much information as possible, the rural areas have a lot of independent supply schemes (boreholes mainly), for which there were no records of billing or system input volumes. These systems have been excluded from the main analysis.

1.4 Current Situation

The combined current key performance indicators are summarised as follows (all KPI calculations have been compiled and attached in Annexure F: Water Balances obtained from the predictive model hereto):

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In terms of financial indicators, and based on the combined individual unit cost of water per system, the annual costs of the water balance components for the entire District for the 2014/15 financial year were as follows:

Annual Cost to UDM Water Balance Component Annual Volumes (kl) @ 5.5 R/kl System Input Volume 52 173 100 R 286 952 050 Unbilled Authorised Consumption 12 390 093 R 68 145 509 Unbilled Metered 54 432 R 299 375 Unbilled Unmetered 12 335 661 R 67 846 134 Apparent Losses 971 172 R 5 341 447 Unauthorised Consumption 493 130 R 2 712 213 Metering Inaccuracies 478 043 R 2 629 234 Real Losses 25 416 892 R 139 792 907 Mains Leaks and Bursts 3 812 534 R 20 968 936 Reservoir Overflows 508 338 R 2 795 858 Service Connection Leaks 21 096 020 R 116 028 112 Total Non‐ Revenue Water 38 778 157 R 213 279 862 Table 2: Financial Implications of Non‐Revenue Water Components

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Figure 2: UDM Water Balance 2014/2015 FY (Current situation)

1.5 Institutional, Social, Economic and Technical Challenges for UDM to reduce NRW levels

The following are the main Institutional, Social, Economic and Technical challenges for the UDM to keep the volume of Non‐Revenue Water into accepatble levels:

1.5.1 Institutional Challenges facing UDM

 The Department of Water Services claims that the allocated budget for the Water Services Provider is insufficient to enable to carry out its mandate. Tariff structure and non‐payment for services are key problematic topics and the Municipality cant even recover Operation Costs.  Capacity within the WSA to attend to WC/WDM issues is minimal. Relationships and responsibilities rest with the WSP in terms of addressing NRW. The response by the WSP to deal with a multitude of daily challenges of burst and breakages in the towns and townships leaves the WSP with limited time to plan interventions to deal with WCWDM strategies.  There is an important lack of skilled and experienced personnel in all Water Services sectors.  Key staff in operations and maintenance has to work overtime to address leaks, burst pipes, disruption to water supplies and failures with pumps and equipment at Ezakheni and Ladysmith.  There is a preception that the NRW component is a responsibility of certain departments in the Municipality when in reality is influenced by number of actions and omissions across the UDM.

1.5.2 Socio & Economic Challenges

 This Municipality is characterized by the socio‐economic indicators such as low revenue base, poor and ageing infrastructure especially water and sanitation infrastructure, limited access to services and low economic base; high levels of poverty, unemployment, skills shortage, lack of resources and low level of education; un/under‐developed land and settlement patterns that make it difficult to plan for effective service delivery. There are a number of challenges that are also associated with attraction of investors, tourists and skilled human resource due to its location away from the two major cities namely, Durban and Johannesburg.  In the last years, there was a notable decline in the unemployment rate in the district municipality falling from 32% in 2001 to 22% in 2011. This followed a similar trend to that of the provincial figures, which declined by same amounts. Indaka still exhibits inferior economic indicators with the highest level of unemployment being 52% in 2011 whilst the lowest unemployment rate was in UMtshezi at 13%. There is not updated information on this topic.  Economic growth is low with no incentives to attract large industries and investments apart from tourism to the Drakensberg Area.

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 Registration of indigent users and implementation of Free Water Allocation (FBW) is extremely delayed.

1.5.3 Technical and O&M Challenges

 Knowledge of the infrastructure is limited to a few individuals. GIS information is limited and not updated.  Insufficient funds to refurbish infrastructure that in some cases more than 50 – 80 years old.  Water Loss Management is not been able to implement simply due to lack of resources, budgets, human resources, and priorities being routine operations functions.  There is minimal or no bulk or zonal metering in the towns and townships  Ladysmith Town is in high need of Pressure Management interventions. It has high and low pressure systems, which often are connected due to negligence by the operators. Lack of operating rules and systems have contributed to the existing water loss problem getting worse due to water surges and transients.  Most the rural water schemes are providing free water through standpipes and there is no cost recovery. The cost for the schemes is being paid from the equitable share.  There is an insufficient budget provided for standby equipment, which often results in longer downtime.  Rudimentary borehole schemes are not sustainable due to the on‐going drought in the regions.

1.5.4 Summary of key factors contributing to high levels of non‐revenue water

 The Non‐Revenue Water levels for the UDM are extremely high: 38 837 Ml/year or 74.4% of the System Input Volumes for the 2014/2015 Financial Year.  Due to the low confidence levels of the data received from the UDM, the Confidence Level for the NRW volume is very low ± 14%, which means that the NRW levels can actually be 14% higher or 14% lower. Taking this confident levels into account, the upper limit of the NRW volume is 46 034 Ml/year (or 89% of the SIV), and 30 690 Ml/year is the lower limit (or 59% of the SIV).  Colenso has the lower levels of NRW in the UDM estimated at 40% of the SIV. Ezakheni NRW is 64% of the SIV, Winterton is sitting at 72%, Ladysmith 69%; and 80% for Estcourt/Wembezi, Weenen and Bergville. There are systems (Moyeni / Zwelisha & Langkloof, Indaka LM and Imbabazane LM) where the NRW is 100% due to the lack of billed consumers.  The Unbilled Authorised component is extremely high (28% of the NRW). The inclusion of existing connections in the billing database should be one of the highest priorities of the NRW reduction strategy. Unfortunately at this stage it is unknown what exactly is needed in order to revert this situation. Only an estimation of the necessary activities and costs are included in the NRW Reduction Master Plan.  In Ezakheni townships there are very high levels of non‐payment for water services, about 15 000 customers. Out of the 15 000 consumers, 10 000 are billed on a flat based tariff which do not reflect the real customer’s consumption, while the other 5 000 the connections are not registered in the billing system. There appears to some political reasons for non‐payment of services as well as confusion in implementing FBW. A similar situation applies in Wembezi Township in Estcourt.  In general, flat rate tariffs produce high domestic consumptions, which in most of the cases consist in running water through internal leaks (leaking taps and toilets). Due to the lack of incentive and the low levels of education and water conservation awareness, the water losses in this type of areas is extremely high.  Water Pressure Management, which is one of the most effective measures to reduce leakage and burst frequency in water supply networks, is almost inexistent at a Municipal Level. In addition, the few pressure reducing devices in the UDM are not maintained due to the lack of skills to do this maintenance works.

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 The WSP is operating under severe constraints and the long viability is poor unless non‐revenue losses are reduced, sufficient funding is made available to provide rehabilitation of infrastructure and there is a move to bulk regional schemes to improve the cost of running many schemes in an economically depressed and socially challenged region.  Tariff is still low when compared to national tariff charges but increasing it to above inflation levels will see stiff resistance from the political leadership even before it reaches the consumers.  Industries in Ladysmith are low and they are significant users but the revenue stream is inadequate to cross subsidize the poor and the non‐payment component of the revenue stream.

1.6 Future Projections

In terms of projecting five years forward in terms of water balances, the following two water balances were prepared:  Scenario 1: Situation in Year+5 without any NRW reduction intervention taking place, but taking into account normal system growth (directly due to demand) and system attrition (deterioration of infrastructure condition), but without any system improvements.

 Scenario 2: Situation in Year+5 with NRW reduction intervention carried out per water balance component, aimed at either reducing real or apparent losses, or simultaneously improving all billed volumes. This was determined using empirically‐based volume recovery factors and/or unit consumption factors and would determine the maximum practically achievable NRW volumes.

Scenario 1 (no intervention) determined that System Input Volume across the entire UDM area of supply would increase by 13.7% (from 52 173 Ml/year to 59 368 Ml/year) and NRW by volume would increase approximately 17.2% (from 38 837 Ml/year to 45 549 Ml/year) within the 5‐year Master Plan period. The Inefficiency of Use of Water Resources (the actual physical leaks from the water distribution system) would increase to 53% and NRW by Volume increase to 76.1%.

Figure 3: Scenario 1 ‐ UDM Water Balance 2019/2020 FY (No interventions)

For scenario 2, a detailed NRW reduction intervention programme was determined and the maximum practical reduction of NRW by volume across each of the 10 supply systems calculated. This was based on known, achievable factors bearing in mind the 80:20 rule on obtaining maximum impact with the optimal amount of effort. The projected water balance based on these intervention factors for the end of the 5‐year Master plan period has been included in Figure 4 (these figures exclude any savings that could be obtained from mains replacement):

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NNUAL COMPONENT BASED WATER BALANCE - MEDIUM TERM WITH SOME INTERVENTIO Select Units Select System and WB Type Volume unit Ml System C Utility: Combined Syst: Combined FY 2019/2020 Time period year Water Balance Type MTWI

Billed Metered Consumption Billed Authorised 18836 Ml/year ± 2.8% Characteristics of the System Authorised Consumption Billed Unmetered Consumption Revenue Water Number of Conns. 87088 conns Consumption 23673 Ml/year 3784 Ml/year ± 9.5% 23673 Ml/year Length of Mains 2248 km ±2.7% Free Basic Water ±2.7% Avg. Zone Press. 46.183458 m 33380 Ml/year 1054 Ml/year ± 10.4% ±3.6% Unbilled Authorised Unbilled metered KPI (Key Performance Indicators) Consumption 60 Ml/year ± 670.0% NRW 56.8 % WS Water Supplied 9707 Ml/year Unbilled Unmetered UAC+AL 324.7 litres/conn/day ± 10.4% 9647 Ml/year ± 9.6% RL 654.5 litres/conn/day 54799 Ml/year Illegal Consumption WL 673.8 litres/conn/day ± 10.4% Apparent Losses 501 Ml/year ± 13.0% RL 97.1 % of WL 614 Ml/year Metering Inaccuracies Non-Revenue Water Inefficiency of Use 38.0 % Water Losses ± 10.7% 114 Ml/year ± 7.7% 31126 Ml/year ILI 11.2 21420 Ml/year Mains and Distribution Leaks ±18.4% NRW pb C 2 ± 27.2% 3,189 Ml/year ± 27.9% UAC+AL pb D Real Losses Reservoir Overflows RL pb C 1 20805 Ml/year 91 Ml/year ± 27.3% ± 28.0% Service Connection Leaks 17525 Ml/year ± 28.0%

Figure 4: Scenario 2 ‐ UDM Water Balance 2018/2019 FY (with interventions)

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Table 3: Comparison of Key Performance Indicators, Current and after the Completion of Intervention Strategies

The comparison between the current water balance and the medium‐term intervention based water balance can be summarised as follows:

 Reduction of Real Losses by 25%  Reduction of Non‐Revenue Water by Volume by 19%  Increase in Billed Authorised Consumption by 77%.

1.7 Non‐Revenue Water Reduction Targets

The minimum practical achievable NRW by Volume for the entire UDM area of supply has been established as 56.8% of the SIV ‐ it will become prohibitively expensive and require a disproportionate amount of time, resources and budget to achieve any better target than this in the next 5‐years. Based on the predictive model that was prepared as part of this investigation, the cost of all NRW reduction interventions required to realize this target has been determined as approximately R107 million when discounted back to NPV – this does not includes mains replacement programme.

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monitoring, NRW reduction team and logging equipment, training and awareness campaigns, etc. The cost for all these interventions for a 5‐year period is estimated as R20 million in total.

Table 4: NRW reduction interventions – prioritized by NRW reduction impact

1.8 NRW Interventions and Supply Areas priorities

The following table presents a quick view of the recommended interventions per supply zone:

Table 5: UDM NRW reduction interventions summary – strategy and priorities

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The areas that should be targeted as HIGH PRIORITY supply areas for NRW Reduction activities are:

 Ladysmith and Steadville  Ezakheni  Estcourt / Wembezi

The activities that should be prioritized for NRW Reduction are:

 Pressure Management: PRV Maintenance and Additional Pressure Management Zones (Advance Pressure Management ‐ only certain areas)  Leak Det. & Repair  New Metered Connections  Billing data base and data collection improvements

1.9 Key Challenges for the WC/WDM Master Plan

The following points were noted as challenges that have being encountered in the process of implementing WC/WDM strategies:

A) SIV (System Input Volumes) Authenticity: The volumes that were recorded as bulk flows into the system had varying ranges of sources and accuracy. The Consultant has not received any documented information or data from any kind of bulk measuring device. All volumes have been provided as the best estimations done by the System Operators, or based in previous historical production data, or Water Treatment Plant design capacities. When data sources are pure estimations, the impact in confidence levels is extremely negative. This problem needs to be addressed immediately by the repair of non‐ working bulk meters, the installation of missing bulk meters and the implementation of a comprehensive monitoring system. For any WC/WDM strategy to succeed, the SIV determination must be accurate. Any gains in the system can only be measured if benchmarking from these two volumes is correct.

B) Infrastructure data, including water pipelines, domestic meters, standpipes, PRVs, etc, is highly incomplete for certain areas of the UDM. The Consultant needed to fill in the missing information using the best possible estimations. This of course included errors in the calculations that have an impact in the outcomes and conclusions of the WC/WDM Master Plan. Nevertheless, the Consultant is confident that the results, conclusions and recommendations of the presented strategy is between acceptable levels of reliability.

Standpipes Metering: Volumes going through free standpipes must be accurately established. Ideally every standpipe must have an individual meter but if this is not a viable option, a bulk meter should be installed on the trunk main feeding those standpipes.

C) Billing Database is not updated: Certain systems/schemes have a low percentage of registered consumer meters and some non‐registered consumers at all. The overall percentage of registered and read meters to number of connections is extremely low.

The main challenges experienced when attempting to analyse the billing database were:

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schemes/systems were not perfectly grouped into municipal boundaries. For further NRW studies this needs to be addressed.

Table 6: Billing Data Integrity Analysis for 2014 ‐ 2015 ‐ All Areas

The billing database was unreliable in terms of quality, with the following main issues:

 The billing for Inaka and Imbabazane LM is inexistent. It is unknown if the connections in the area have meters installed.  Ezakheni consumption is mainly billed on a flat rate tariff, which of course does not correlates to real consumptions and gives a high inaccuracy when calculating billed authorised consumption volumes for the area.  Average consumption per connections is extremely high, 1 000 litres/connection/day for the UDM. In particular, the average consumption for Estcourt is 1 800 l/conn/d.  The number of negative values and “zero” records is extremely high, approximately a 25% of the total number of records.  From previous studies, it’s known that the quality of meter readings in rural areas is very poor.

Comparing the number of connections given with the infrastructure information and the number of billing records, there were high inconsistencies found, per Local Municipality and in the total numbers.

For the whole UThukela DM, the number of connections not included in the billing system is estimated as high as a 350% of the known connections. This is something that should be addressed as an urgent matter. Also, the inability to reconcile the billing database with the GIS database is cause for concern.

D) Inadequate background data on individual supply schemes/systems, especially when it comes to billing and SIV data.

E) Lack of understanding and implementation of appropriate design standards that could minimize NRW volumes even at design stage.

F) Insufficient understanding by UDM Departments of seriousness and cost of NRW, leading to insufficient budgets being made available for NRW reduction activities.

G) Dedicated UDM capacity constraints. The process of receiving information from the UDM was quite frustrating and did not provide positive results.

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1.10 Critical Success Factors

In order to ensure the success of this WC/WDM Programme and to meet the proposed targets contained in this Master Plan, there are a number of critical success factors. These were identified as being:

 Recognition of NRW reduction as a major focus area of the Water Service Provider and Water Service Authority by all Client Departments, including and especially Finance;

 Recognition of the need to have sufficient dedicated internal resources available to be focused on ensuring the implementation, sustaining, monitoring and evaluation of NRW reduction intervention;

 Embracing the principles and objectives of Water Conservation/Water Demand Management;

 Securing the requested funding of approximately R130 million over the next five financial years;

 Implementing accepted best practice in all aspects of NRW reduction, including data/information management;

 Not falling into the trap of treating the NRW reduction interventions proposed in this Master plan as a once‐off capital investment – any intervention has to be sustained and the ongoing operations and maintenance must be budgeted for and carried out;

 Focus must be on high impact interventions irrespective of any external (political) influence that could be brought to bear on the proposed roll‐out strategy.

1.11 Resource Management

An analysis was carried out on the current structure and resource allocation in the Client organisation in terms of managing NRW reduction intervention programmes. It was deemed imperative that the profile of WC/WDM and NRW be elevated to as senior a level as possible within the UDM organisation and that, if possible, dedicated focus on NRW activities be allowed without distraction from other initiatives.

In terms of the actual resources to be used, it is proposed that a training and mentorship programme be adopted and implemented through the programme management phase of the roll‐out of the NRW reduction interventions.

1.12 Conclusions and Recommendations

The key conclusions contained in this Master Plan are summarised as follows:

 In general data reliability is very low. In particular, water supply and billed consumption information has direct impact on Water Balances accuracy. Although a lot of effort has been spend validating the accuracy of the information, much of this information has been gained from multiple sources with different grades of confidence and has had to be trusted without independent verification.

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 There is a lack of basic infrastructure data, pressure records and burst frequency. Due to this, infrastructure indicators and pressure optimization plans need revision and confirmation in further stages.

 NRW for UDM by Volume is 74.4 % SIV (using 2014/15 Financial Year data) and the Infrastructure Leakage Index (ILI) that indirectly measures the status of real losses for a determinate system, is 14.8. Inefficiency use of water: 52.8% SIV; and Real losses: 866.7 l/c/d.

 Due to normal rates of rise and system deterioration, the 5 years NRW level with no interventions is estimated to be of 76.1 % SIV approximately; ILI of 17.2; Inefficiency use of water 53.4% SIV; and Real losses: 1004.7 l/c/d.

 With a combined investment between OPEX and CAPEX of R130 Million in WC/WDM interventions, the NRW level in 5 years time will be of 56.8% SIV approximately; ILI: 11.2; Inefficiency use of water: 38% SIV; and Real losses: 654.5 l/c/d. It is unrealistic for UDM to set a short‐term NRW target of less than 56.8 % by volume.

 An annual operations budget of at least R 10 000 000 per annum be set aside to ensure the sustainability of all pressure management intervention as well as targeted leak detection and repair activities.

 From the billing data base analysis, consumers meter readings seem not to be in place properly. Many “zeros” and negatives values present in the database, which negatively affect any analysis.

 For the whole UThukela DM, the number of connections not included in the billing system is estimated as high as a 350% of the known connections. This is something that should be addressed as an urgent matter. Also, the inability to reconcile the billing database with the GIS database is cause for concern.

 The Consultant requested the UDM Organogram, but was never provided. It seems that the UDM does not have any Department fully assigned to WC/WDM initiatives.

 The outstanding NRW problematic per local Municipality can be summarize as follows:

 Emnambithi LM: with the exception of Colenso, NRW levels are extremely high mainly due to high leakage volumes. Pressure management and leak detection interventions should be prioritize.

 Okhahlamba LM: High NRW levels due to commercial and real losses. Missing metered connections, new consumer’s meters installation and additional pressure management measures should be prioritized.

 Umtshezi and Indaka LM: NRW levels are high mainly due to high leakage levels, but there is a significant portion of commercial losses.

 Imbabazane LM: Extremely high NRW levels are mainly due to commercial losses.

The main recommendations of this Master Plan are the following:

 It is of extreme importance that the internal profile of Non‐Revenue Water reduction and Water Conservation/Water Demand Management is raised to such a level as to demonstrate

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corporate and Finance Department support and buy‐in. With out this, the success and impact of the entire programme will be compromised.

 The provided WC/WDM Master Plan provided should be used to prioritize interventions according to available budget.

 Investigate Top Consumers per Local Municipality, ensure that connections meters are properly installed, registered in Billing System and the meters are read monthly.

 All unmetered connections, including all currently unmetered standpipes, must be metered and registered as connections as a matter of urgency. Ensure every standpipe is metered in clusters and meters read regularly for billing to relevant government/municipality department.

 Flat rate tariff consumers should be immediately start to pay their water bills according to metered consumptions. This will immediately impact with the high level of internal leaks in Ezakheni Township.

 Appropriate metering, illegal connection and real loss reduction policies need to be developed and implemented.

 Water mains replacement has not been addressed in detail in the present study. Nevertheless, from information gathered from the Technical Department, this will be an important part of any future program, although this may be addressed under Asset Management.

 The largest impact on NRW volumes is resolving the unregistered consumers in the billing database, unmetered connections, and implementing pressure management.

 Consumers with high internal leak levels should be identify as a matter of urgency and a force repair programme should be immediately implemented.

 New design standards must be formalised and implemented (new pressure regimes, pipe material, etc.), with the most urgent of these being the reduction of maximum operating pressure to 50m.

 Commence and continue an active leak detection program.

 The recommendations as contained in this Master Plan for the roll‐out of the NRW reduction interventions be approved for implementation.

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UTHUKELA DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY

5‐YEAR STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR THE REDUCTION OF NON‐REVENUE WATER IN THE UTHUKELA DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY

2 Background

2.1 Municipality Background

The UThukela District Municipality (DC23) is one of ten District Municipalities in the Province of KwaZulu‐ Natal. It is located on the western boundary of the KwaZulu‐Natal Province, and shares the border with the Kingdom of Lesotho and the Free State Province.

It was established during the 2000 transformation of local government uThukela District Municipality derives its name from one of the major rivers in the Province of KwaZulu‐Natal, the UThukela River that rises from the Drakensberg Mountains and supplies water to a large portion of KZN and as well as Gauteng. Uthukela District Municipality has three district municipalities bordering onto it within the Province of Kwa Zulu ‐Natal, namely Amajuba, Umzinyathi and UMgungundlovu.

The uThukela DM is an important entry point to the province through the N3 and the Oliviershoek Pass. Some of its sectors make a significant contribution to the provincial economy, particularly tourism, manufacturing and agriculture. Its natural assets have national significance particularly the role played by the Tugela River in augmenting the Vaal River system and the designation of the Ukhahlamba – Drakensberg Park as one of South Africa’s first world heritage sites, and as one of Africa’s Transfrontier Peace Parks. It also accounts for a significant portion of the District population and features prominently in the provincial spatial structure DM. This Municipality is characterized by socio‐economic indicators such as low revenue base, poor infrastructure, limited access to services and obviously low economic base; high levels of poverty, unemployment, skills shortage, lack of resources and low level of education; un/under‐developed land and settlement patterns that make it difficult to plan for effective service delivery. There are a number of challenges that are also associated with attraction of investors, tourists and skilled human resource due to its location away from the two major cities namely, Durban and Johannesburg.

 Indaka Local Municipality  Umtshezi Local Municipality  Okhahlamba Local Municipality  Imbabazane Local Municipality  Emnambithi/Ladysmith Local Municipality  uThukela District Management Area (DMA)

Some of the above local municipalities were water service providers during the TLC era and whose debtors’ data was transferred when the function was transferred to the District. This resulted in inherent problems with the debtors’ data being transferred to the District.

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Figure 5: UThukela District Municipality borders and Local Municipalities

2.2 NRW Master Plan Background

The UThukela District Municipality (UDM) recognized the need to focus on the reduction of Non‐Revenue Water (NRW) as part of its overall Water Conservation/Water Demand Management strategy as well as its contribution towards the objectives of the National Water Conservation/Water Demand Management (WC/WDM) initiatives currently underway throughout the country in support of the protection of a scarce water supply resource.

 Determine the baseline situation in terms of water balances for each supply system in accordance with international and national best practice;

 Identify areas of possible NRW reduction, by water balance component and per supply system, prioritise these in order of impact and prepare a consolidated NRW Reduction Intervention programme;

 Establish targets in terms of NRW by volume, supported by Key Performance Indicators and budget/funding requirements;

 Address the internal requirements necessary for the successful implementation of a NRW reduction programme in terms of resources, systems and critical success factors;

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 Identify short‐term problems that are being experienced with the Municipality’s billing database and determine any necessary corrective actions; and

 Develop a software model that allowed UDM the flexibility to determine intervention impact, targets and budget requirements to suit changing needs and focus areas.

The responses to these objectives have been included in this Master Plan.

This Master Plan is also not to be regarded in isolation. The UDM commissioned the preparation of:

1. Uthukela DM – Integrated Development Plan (2015/2016). 2. Ezakheni – Pressure Management Optimization Project ‐ Phase 1 (2012) and Phase 2 (2016). 3. Uthukela DM ‐ District Growth and Development Plan – February 2015. 4. Water Services Development Plan (issued in 2007) 5. UThukela District Municipality – Water Conservation & Water Demand Management Strategy ‐ Adopted on 30 June 2015 ‐ Council Resolution A37/06/15 6. First stage Reconciliation Strategy for Ladysmith Water Supply Scheme Area – Emnambithi / Ladysmith Local Municipality – June 2011. 7. First Stage Reconciliation Strategy for Ezakheni Water Supply Scheme Area – Emnambithi / Ladysmith Local Municipality – June 2011. 8. First Stage Reconciliation Strategy for Colenso Water Supply Scheme Area – Emnambithi / Ladysmith Local Municipality – June 2011. 9. First Stage Reconciliation Strategy for Estcourt Water Supply Scheme Area – Umtshezi Local Municipality – June 2011. 10. First Stage Reconciliation Strategy for Weenen Water Supply Scheme Area – Umtshezi Local Municipality – June 2011. 11. First Stage Reconciliation Strategy for Zwelisha Moyeni Water Supply Scheme Area – Okhahlamba Local Municipality – June 2011. 12. First Stage Reconciliation Strategy for Winterton Water Supply Scheme Area – Okhahlamba Local Municipality – June 2011. 13. First Stage Reconciliation Strategy for Bergville Water Supply Scheme Area – Okhahlamba Local Municipality – June 2011. 14. First Stage Reconciliation Strategy for Ekuvukeni Water Supply Scheme Area – Indaka Local Municipality – June 2011. 15. First Stage Reconciliation Strategy for Ekuvukeni Water Supply Scheme Area – Imbabazane Local Municipality – June 2011.

All these are comprehensive reports addressing all aspects of Water Conservation and Water Demand Management. This Master Plan is intended to supplement these documents and to provide more strategic direction and detail on the water loss reduction and billing database analysis sections of the Water Demand Management Strategy.

3 Objectives of Water Conservation/Water Demand Management Strategy

The objective of the preparation of the WC/WDM Strategy is to provide both a strategic and operational framework to the Water Services Department to implement its NRW reduction interventions over a five‐ year period. The framework for the preparation and implementation of a NRW master plan for the UDM included the following:

a) Desktop assessment of existing areas of supply from bulk conveyance per supply system; b) Review and documentation of previous NRW reduction activities, which includes:  Review of activities carried out to date (nature, cost and benefits),

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 Preparation of current annual water balances in IWA format with 95% confidence levels,  Determination of annual costs incurred to date through NRW reduction interventions,  Estimation/determination of annual savings achieved to date through NRW reduction activities, c) Recommendations for system infrastructure improvements to be carried out on a system supply level; d) Recommendations for the preparation of an IWA benchmark water balance to be carried out per supply system/area; e) Preparation of a 5‐year NRW implementation programme/roll‐out plan for intervention, on an annual basis; f) Identification of highest impact NRW reduction intervention per supply system; g) Development of Key Performance Indicators and Measurement Baselines to measure improvements in the reduction of network losses over the next 5 years; h) Identification/differentiation between pilot interventions and full scale roll‐out interventions; i) Corresponding development of procurement guidelines; j) Assessment of the current in‐house capacity of the Engineers Department; and k) Review and assessment of funding strategies.

It must be noted that the intention of this report is not to go into high details regarding supply problems, operational problems and infrastructure shortcomings in each of the supply areas. Rather, the intention is to offer direction for the global implementation of a water loss management programme.

4 Legislative Framework

4.1 Legal Framework

Although not a legislative requirement at this stage, this strategic management plan has been prepared within a prevailing legislative framework which addresses the provision of water services as well as accountability in terms of managing water resources. The legal documents referenced or used in the compilation of this Master Plan are as follows:

 National Water Act – 1998 (№ 36 of 1998)

 National Water Amendment Act – 1999 (№ 45 of 1999)

 Water Services Act (№ 108 of 1997)

 Water Services Amendment Act – 2004 (№ 30 of 2004)

 Norms and Standards in Respect of Tariffs for Water Services in terms of Section 10(1) of the Water Services Act (№ 108 of 1997)

 Regulations relating to Compulsory National Standards and Measures to Conserve Water

 Water Services By‐Laws of the UDM Council as Water Services Authority

4.2 Policy Framework

In support of the Legislative Framework, a number of policy documents have been referred to in the drafting of this Master Plan, both from a National and local perspective. These are:

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 National Water Conservation and Water Demand Management Strategy, 2004

 Water Conservation and Water Demand Management Strategy for the Water Services Sector, 2004

 National Water Resource Strategy (NWRS), 1st Edition, September 2004

 Guidelines for Water Supply Systems Operations and Management Plans during Normal and Drought Conditions (RSA c 000/00/2305), October 2006

 Water Services Planning References Framework, Version 5, 2008

 UThukela District Municipality – Water Services Development Plan (2007)

 UThukela District Municipality – Integrated Development Plan Review 2015/2016

 UThukela District Municipality – Water Conservation & Water Demand Management Strategy ‐ Adopted on 30 June 2015 ‐ Council Resolution A37/06/15

 UThukela District Municipality – Credit Control and Debt Collection Policy

 UThukela District Municipality – Indigent Policy

 UThukela District Municipality – Free Basic Water Policy

 UThukela District Municipality – Tariff Structure

 UThukela District Municipality – Water Bylaws

4.3 National Water Resource Strategy

A Water Conservation and Water Demand Management Strategy is a fundamental step in promoting water use efficiency and is consistent with the National Water Act (Act 36 of 1998) which emphasizes effective water management of our water resources. The need for WC/WDM is also based on the economic efficiency objectives due to the significant cost in the provision of water services. It is estimated that in the next fifteen years the potential benefit from WC/WDM in South Africa is at approximately R50 billion. The benefits will largely come from cost savings in postponing capital infrastructure and savings in operating costs.

4.3.1 Water Conservation

Water conservation refers to the minimization of loss or waste, care and protection of water resources and the efficient and effective use of water.

4.3.2 Water Demand Management

This concept refers to the adaptation and implementation of a strategy by a water institution or consumer to influence the water demand and usage of water in order to meet any of the following objectives:

 Economic efficiency  Social development  Social equity

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 Environmental protection  Sustainability of water supply and services  Political acceptability

Water Conservation and Water Demand Management are intertwined and complimentary. A potential difference between the principles of Water Conservation and Water Demand Management is that Water Conservation focuses on the efficiency of a combination of resources including financial resources. Water conservation is primarily concerned with the reduction or total elimination of water loss for purposes of ensuring sustainable future supply or meeting of demand, while water demand management is aimed at reducing the expected water usage or demand. It is not practical to separate these concepts and the objectives developed in the proposed model strategies combine both the principles of WC and WDM.

4.3.3 Institutional Roles

The roles and relationships of the various water sector institutions in respect to WC/WDM are reflected in Figure 6: Roles of Water Sector Institutions for WC/WDM. Supporting comments provide a consolidated overview of the different WC/WDM roles and functions of the various water institutions. It is important to note the different operational boundaries for water resources management and water services. Water resources management is undertaken on a catchment basis, whereas water services are provided according to municipal demarcation. This introduces complexity into the management of relationships between the Catchment Management Agency (CMA) and the Water Services Institutions (WSI). CMAs are responsible for Water Resource Management (WRM) planning and implementation at a Water Management Area (WMA) level. This includes the entire scope of WC/WDM. However, it is envisaged that a WSI will have a greater focus on demand management for domestic and industrial use within its area of jurisdiction. Each CMA will co‐ordinate the activities of those WSIs falling within the WMA.

Department of Water and Sanitation

Figure 6: Roles of Water Sector Institutions for WC/WDM

The Role of the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS)

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The role of the Department with respect to WC/WDM is a generic role and is applicable to all sectors. It includes:

 Co‐ordinate national functions;  Develop generic tools and guidelines;  Develop policies and regulations;  Perform general regulatory functions;  Co‐ordinate measures to create an education and water conservation awareness culture throughout South Africa;  Promote WC/WDM to all WSIs, including Water User Associations (WUA);  Monitor the implementation of WC/WDM by WSIs, including WUAs; and  Authorise power generation as a strategic use as recognised by the National Water Act (Act 36 of 1998).

The Role of a Catchment Management Agency

The role of a CMA with respect to WC/WDM is:

 Include WC/WDM as part of its Catchment Management Strategy (CMS), consistent with the NWRS;  Set conditions for water use authorisations;  Ensure the implementation of National Water Act (NWA) regulations;  Develop an implementation plan for the WC/WDM component of its Catchment Management Strategy (CMS);  Ensure and monitor the implementation of WC/WDM by Bulk Water Suppliers (BWS),the Water Services Authorities (WSA) and the major water users of the IMP sector (who are responsible for their own water supply)within its jurisdiction; and  Co‐ordinate multi‐sector regional WC/WDM plans, including the setting of targets.

The Role of a Water Services Authority

The role of a Water Services Authority (WSA) with respect to WC/WDM is:

 Include WC/WDM as part of its Water Services Development Plan (WSDP), being consistent with the NWRS and the CMS of the CMA within which it operates;  Develop an implementation plan for the WC/WDM component of its WSDP, including the requirements for those industries falling within its jurisdiction; and  Ensure and monitor the implementation of WC/WDM by Water Services Providers and their bulk water suppliers.

The Role of a Bulk Water Supplier (including Water Boards)

The role of a bulk water supplier (as a Water Services Provider) is that assigned by the CMA and WSA as described above. As some of the bulk water suppliers (especially Water Boards) may have sufficient human resource capacity, they may be expected to:

 Contribute to the development the WC/WDM component of the CMS or WSDP;  Assist water users in the IMP sector, and within its own area of water supply, in the implementation of WC/WDM measures, as and when required;  Implement WC/WDM measures related to its own service provision functions; and

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 Co‐ordinate the implementation of WC/WDM measures through various measures, including a communication/ awareness campaign.

Elements of Water Demand Management

A breakdown of the elements of Water Demand Management is depicted in Figure 7 below. Water Demand Management comprises of two main branches of management, namely Supply Side Management and Demand Side Management. Supply Side Management ensures that supply can meet demand, whereas Demand Side Management ensures that water demand is kept to an economical and socially acceptable minimum.

Figure 7: Elements of Water Demand Management

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5 Limitations of Strategic Plan

This Master Plan is strategic in nature and therefore by definition cannot be used as an operational document. It provides a framework within which implementation can take place and advocates an intervention strategy, achievable targets and budget requirements. It is based on a desktop study without the valuable input provided by detailed field measurements. Although every effort has been made in terms of validating the accuracy of the information used in the preparation of the Master Plan, much of this information has been gained from multiple sources and has had to be trusted without independent verification. This aside, there is a high level of confidence in both the figures used and the recommendations made.

Any NRW reduction strategy and implementation programme must take cognizance of both local and national imperatives, regulations and guidelines. In this regard, a holistic approach to the reduction of NRW from a strategic (5‐year) to detailed operational (1‐year) focus has been proposed, summarized in Figure 8. This constitutes the overall framework within which the NRW reduction programme should take place.

Figure 8: UThukela District Municipality Non‐Revenue Water Reduction Programme Implementation

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6 Research Framework

6.1 International Best Practice International Water Association – Losses from Water Supply Systems: Standard Terminology and Recommended Performance Measures

6.1.1 Background

With the increasing international trend towards sustainability, economic efficiency and protection of the environment, the problem of losses from water supply systems is of major interest worldwide. Both the technical and financial aspects are receiving increasing attention, especially during water shortages or periods of rapid development.

However, particular problems and unnecessary misunderstandings arise because of differences in the definitions used by individual countries for describing and calculating losses. Also, traditional performance indicators also give conflicting impressions of true performance in controlling water losses (for example, the use of percentages).

In 1996, the Operations and Maintenance Committee of the IWA’s Distribution Division set up a Task Force to review existing methodologies for international comparisons of water losses from water supply systems. The main objectives were:

 To prepare a recommended basic standard terminology for calculation of real and apparent losses;

 To recommend how the annual volume of real and apparent losses should be calculated from a water balance; and

 To review and recommend preferred performance indicators for international comparisons of losses.

The resulting publication (Losses from Water Supply Systems: Standard Terminology and Recommended Performance Measures) summarizes the conclusions of the Water Losses Task Force, with particular reference to the preferred Performance Indicators for assessing operational performance in control of real losses in supply systems.

The Water Losses Task Force publication formed an integral part of a more comprehensive IWA publication: Manual of Best Practice “Performance Indicators for Water Supply Services”.

It is these two publications that form the International Standard used on this project.

6.1.2 Basic Terminology

Some of the standard definitions for international use used in this report have been included below for ease of reference and understanding:  System Input Volume is the volume of water input to a distribution system.

 Authorised Consumption is the volume of metered and/or unmetered water taken by registered consumers, the water supplier or others who are authorised to do so, for domestic, commercial and industrial purposes (authorised consumption includes items such as fire fighting and training, flushing of mains and sewers, street cleaning, watering of municipal gardens,

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public fountains and building water. These may be billed or unbilled, metered or unmetered according to local practice).

 Water Losses of a system are calculated as:

 Water Losses = System Input Volume – Authorised Consumption

 Water losses can be considered as a total volume for the whole system, or for partial systems such as bulk or reticulation. In each case the components of the calculation would be adjusted accordingly. Water Losses consist of Real and Apparent losses, and are effectively identical to Unaccounted‐for Water.

 Real Losses are physical water losses from the distribution system, up to the point of consumer metering. The volume lost through all types of leaks, bursts and overflow depends on frequencies, flow rates and average durations of individual leaks.

 Apparent Losses consist of unauthorised consumption (theft or illegal use) and all types of inaccuracies associated with bulk and consumer metering. For example, under‐registration of bulk meters and over‐registration of consumer meters leads to under‐estimation of losses. Conversely, over‐registration of bulk meters and under‐registration of consumer meters leads to over‐estimation of real losses.

 Unauthorised Consumption is generally associated with the misuse of fire hydrants and fire service connections, and illegal connections.

 Non‐Revenue Water (NRW) is the difference between the System Input Volume and Billed Authorised Consumption.

6.1.3 Basic Approach

The best practice in management of water losses consists of a combination of continuous water balance calculations together with night flow measurements on a continuous or “as required” basis. The water balance, usually taken over a 12‐month period, should include:

 A thorough accounting of all water into and out of a distribution system, including inspection of system records;

 An ongoing meter testing and calibration programme; and

 Due allowance to time lags between bulk meter readings and consumer meter readings.

The water balance calculation quantifies volumes of total water into the supply system, authorised consumption (billed and unbilled, metered and unmetered) and water losses (apparent and real) as shown in Figure 9. Where continuous leak detection is not being practised, the process may also include a cost to benefit analysis for recovering excess leakage, leading to a leak detection programme.

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Figure 9: Components of an IWA Water Balance

All water balance calculations are approximate to some degree because of the difficulty of assessing all the components with complete accuracy. The reliability is likely to be greatest when input volumes are purchased (with duplicate metering), and all water is measured through regularly maintained accurate customer meters supplying properties that do not have storage tanks. Storage tanks can result in low flow rates through service connections, and these low flows may not register accurately on the customer meter.

Best practice, as recommended by the IWA Performance Indicators Group is to assign confidence grades to each component of the water balance, incorporating both reliability and accuracy grades. In some countries these grades are checked independently as part of the process. Some discussion around the use of the confidence grading system has been included later in the report.

Each component of the annual water balance should always be initially presented in terms of volume per year.

An improved understanding of Real Losses can be obtained by classifying components as follows:  Background losses from very small undetectable leaks – typically low flow rates, long duration, large volumes;

 Losses from leaks and bursts reported to the water supplier – typically high flow rates, short duration, moderate volumes;

 Losses from unreported bursts, found by active leakage control (ALC) – medium flow rates, but duration and volume depends on ALC policy; and

 Overflows at, and leakage from, service reservoirs.

Methods of assessing Real Losses, other than from Water Balances, include:

 Analysing night flows based on district meter data

 Recording numbers and types of leaks and bursts and their average flow rates and durations

 Modelling calculations that allow for background leakage and pressure.

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Although physical losses after the point of customer metering are excluded from assessment of Real Losses under this definition, they can sometimes be highly significant and worthy of attention for demand management purposes.

6.1.4 Results Presentation

The Water Losses Task Force had, as part of their brief, to determine suitable, internationally applicable key performance indicators that could be used to table (essentially a‐dimensional) results. The key indicators were to address both technical and financial performance.

It was the findings of the Task Force that the choice for a basic operational performance indicator lay between length of mains or per connection. International experience has shown that the greatest proportion of losses occurs on service connections rather than mains, except at low density of connections. The Task Force’s rationale was therefore to use a “per service connection” indicator which is more likely to be suitable for the widest range of situations.

The performance indicators developed by the Water Losses Task Force were included in the IWA’s Manual of Best Practice “Performance Indicators for Water Supply Services”2. In this publication, three levels of performance indicators were recommended for use by water utilities, namely:

 Level 1 (L1): a first layer of indicators that provide a general management overview of the efficiency and effectiveness of the water undertaking;

 Level 2 (L2): additional indicators which provide a better insight than the Level 1 indicators for users who need to go further in depth; and

 Level 3 (L3): indicators that provide the greatest amount of specific detail, but are still relevant at the top management level.

Each of these levels applies to performance indicators in the following fields: water resources, personnel, physical, operational, quality of service and financial. Not all these performance indicators are applicable to water loss management; therefore only those applicable to water loss management have been included. The recommended water loss management performance indicators, including their relevant importance in terms of level, have been presented in Figure 10. A more detailed discussion on the operational performance measures has been included after Figure 10.

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Figure 10: Relative Importance of Recommended Water Losses and Non‐Revenue Water Indicators

Technical Indicator for Real Losses: The Water Losses Task Force recommended that the basic Technical Indicator for Real Losses should be the annual volume of Real Losses divided by the number of service connections (Nc), allowing for the percentage of the year for which the system is pressurized, ie.

CARL = Current Annual Volume of Real Losses/Nc (litres/service connection/day when the system is pressurised)

A more detailed interpretation of CARL values can then be obtained by comparing the CARL value with a ‘best estimate’ of Unavoidable Average Real Losses (UARL) that allows for local conditions of connection density, location of customer meters and average operating pressure, if all aspects of leakage control were being managed to the highest technical standards.

Unavoidable Average Real Losses (UARL): It was recommended that the calculation of the UARL in litres/service connection/day be based on the following form of equation. This recognized separate influences of Real Losses from length of mains (Lm in km), number of service connections from the edge of the street to customer meters (Lp in km), and average pressure (P in metres) when the system is pressurized.

UARL = (A x Lm/Nc + B + C x Lp/Nc) x P (litres/service connection/day when the system is pressurised)

The equation and its parameters A, B and C are based on statistical analysis of international data, including 27 different water supply systems in 20 countries.

Comparisons of CARL and UARL : The difference between the CARL and the UARL represents the maximum potential for further savings in Real Losses, when the system is pressurized. Also, the ratio of CARL to UARL is a useful non‐dimensional index of the overall condition and management of

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infrastructure, under the current operating regime of average pressure and continuity of supply, and is recommended as an additional step in interpreting the calculated value of the CARL for a wide range of international situations. The question as to whether the current pressure regime is unnecessarily high, or too low, should of course also be evaluated on a regular basis.

Infrastructure Leakage Index (ILI) = CARL/UARL

For example, if the CARL is 107 litres/connection/day, and the UARL is 53.6 litres/connection/day, the Infrastructure Leakage Index is 107/53.6 = 2.0. Values of ILI calculated for 27 actual situations in 20 countries, which were used to test the validity of the methodology, ranged from close to 1.0, up to just above 10.0. Well‐managed systems in very good condition would be expected to have ILI values close to 1.0, with higher values for older systems with infrastructure deficiencies. is the graphical representation of he ILI values from the 20 countries.

Figure 11: Infrastructure Leakage Index (ILI) Values from 27 Water Supply Systems in 20 Countries (as compiled by IWA Water Losses Task Force)

6.2 Performance Indicators for Water Supply Services – Data Confidence Grading

6.2.1 General

The results and analysis of the approaches tabled in the previous sections will always be dependent on the quality of information and data used. In this regard a Confidence Grading Scheme has been used to assess the adequacy, reliability and accuracy of the existing data in determining the relevant performance indicators.

The system used for this purpose was the recommended standard contained in the International Water Association’s Manual of Best Practice: Performance Indicators for Water Supply Services. The confidence grades are intended to provide a rational basis for undertakings to qualify information provided for, in this case, analytical purposes, as regards to reliability and accuracy.

In accordance with international Best Practice, a quality assurance approach has been employed in the methodology used to assign confidence grades. The confidence grades reflect the current status of the data, not the future status that it may be intended to achieve.

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An alpha‐numeric grading system has been utilized, comprising of the combination of two fields: reliability bands and accuracy bands.

6.2.2 Reliability Bands

The following reliability bands for data were proposed:

Reliability band Definition

*** Highly reliable data source: data based on sound records, procedures, investigations or analyses that are properly documented and recognized as the best available assessment methods. ** Fairly reliable data source: worse than *** but better than * * Unreliable data source: data based on extrapolation from limited reliable samples or on informed guesses Table 7: International Water Association Data Reliability Bands

6.2.3 Accuracy Bands

Accuracy is defined as the approximation between the result of a given measurement and the (conventionally) correct value for the variable to be measured. Whenever the measurement accuracy cannot be assessed, it should be graded as greater than 50%.

Accuracy band Associated uncertainty

0 – 5% Better than or equal to ±5% 5 – 20% Worse than ±5% but better than or equal to ±20% 20 – 50% Worse than ±20% but better than or equal to ±50% > 50% Worse than ±50% Table 8: International Water Association Data Accuracy Bands

6.2.4 Overall Confidence Grades

The confidence grades are represented as an alphanumeric code, which couples the reliability band and the accuracy band – for example:

*** 5 – 20% data based on sound records (highly reliable, Band ***) which is estimated to be within 5 – 20% (Accuracy Band 2)

* 20 – 50% data based on extrapolation from a limited sample (unreliable, Band *) which is estimated to be within ±50% (Accuracy Band 3).

The application of this data confidence grading has been included later in the report.

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6.3 National Best Practice: SABS 0306 – The Management of Potable Water in Distribution Systems

6.3.1 Background

This standard was approved according to SABS procedures on 25 June 1999 and was publicly launched at the Afriwater Exhibition held at Midrand in July 1999. The standard was issued as a Code of Practice and, as such, is to be used as a guideline; it is not a statutory requirement to which Water Supply Authorities (WSA’s) must adhere.

The standard covers the management, administration and operational functions required by WSA’s in order to account for potable water within distribution systems and to apply corrective actions to reduce and control unaccounted‐for water (UAW) or Non‐Revenue Water (NRW).

The aim of the standard is stated as being the presentation of a uniform approach for all WSA’s to:

 Establish a strategic plan for the management of potable water delivery;

 Review an existing management programme;

 Offer direction for the implementation of such a plan;

 Quantify the extent and cost of NRW in potable water distribution systems;

 Determine the appropriate resources required for the operation of those programmes;

 Establish accurate accounting for potable water; and

 Reduce NRW.

6.3.2 Basic Terminology

The list of standard definitions used in the Code of Practice is exhaustive. However, some of the more fundamental definitions used in this report have been included below for ease of reference and understanding:

 Leakage (volume): that part of unaccounted‐for water that escapes or leaks other than as a result of a deliberate or controllable action over a specified period.

 Loss: the volume of water that flows through a given section of a pipe during a specified time interval and that is not consumed or used as a result of deliberate or controllable action.

 Loss Rate: the volume rate of flow (through a given section of a pipe) of water that is not being consumed or used as a result of a deliberate or controllable action.

 Minimum Night Flow Rate (Qmnf): the lowest consistently repeatable flow rate into an area, district or zone, measured during the period of lowest consumption (typically from midnight to 04h00), and which includes legitimate consumption, leakage on premises and leakage from the distribution system.

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 Net minimum Night Flow Rate; Minimum Night Flow Loss Rate (Qmnfl): the flow rate obtained by subtracting any legitimate consumption rate at the time of the minimum night flow rate measurement, from the minimum night flow rate Qmnf.

 Specific Loss Rate (Qsl, Qsp or Qsc): the loss rate (determined in litres per hour) divided respectively by the total length of piping (in kilometres), by the number of properties or by the number of connections.

 Unaccounted‐for Water (Volume) Vuaw: the difference between the measured volume of water put into the supply and distribution system and the total volume of water measured to authorised consumers whose fixed property address appears on the official list of the WSA.

 Water Balance: the difference between the measured volume of potable water put into a water distribution system and the total volume of potable water measured at any intermediate point in the water distribution system. Effectively, a statement setting out the amount of water flowing in and water flowing out on an area‐by‐area basis.

6.3.3 Results Presentation

The Code of Practice has developed its own set of results that are unique to South Africa and local conditions. In line with international practice, the Code of Practice clearly states that the use of percentages should never be used to quantify water losses. However, the formulae used to quantify losses are specific loss rates and comparative ratios.

The preferred term for presenting results of analysis is Specific Loss Rate. Specific Loss Rates, as described above, can be expressed as a function of the length of reticulation mains, number of properties or number of connections, depending on the availability and accuracy of system information.

Whenever required, values for specific loss rates can be established for each management district, subdistrict and zone where permanent meters have been installed, by logging the flowmeter for a short time period. The specific loss rate values for all areas should be plotted on a monthly graph to observe leakage trends for each area.

All specific loss rate values should be expressed in the same units (for example, cubic metres per hour per kilometre) and ranked in descending order. It is preferable that these values come from the latest measurement cycle. The area with the highest specific loss rate will also have the highest water losses. This ranking will provide the basis for scheduling intervention, maintenance or repir work in the zone.

The Comparative Ratio (Ram) is a useful action indicator that compares the average daily demand (Qad) to the minimum night flow rate (Qmnf) for any zone under analysis, and is provided by using the formula Ram = Qad/Qmnf. It is a quick indicator that provides a “state of health” snapshot with the interpretation being that the closer Ram approaches the value 1, the worse is the condition of the distribution system.

6.4 Water Conservation/Water Demand Management General Approach

The implementation of any NRW reduction or water loss management programme is multi‐phased. The ultimate objective of any such initiative must be to reduce unnecessary distribution losses to an economical minimum while maximising revenues from customers. One such way of monitoring any water utility’s success in this regard is by compiling a monthly or annual water balance. A number of performance indicators can be determined from this water balance to identify progress in minimizing water loss in its various components.

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The water balance can be prepared in either a “top‐down” or “bottom‐up” approach. The “top‐down” approach is largely a desktop exercise whereby generally, high‐level information from readily available documentation is collected and reviewed to prepare a water balance. Typical data included in this approach is bulk water volume (treated and/or purchased), customer billing volumes, leak repair summaries meter calibration tests, fire hydrant use etc. The “top‐down” approach, while approximate in its reliability, can be compiled relatively quickly and is usually advisable for utilities preparing their first water balance.

The “bottom‐up” approach involves taking field measurements and conducting audits, investigations and research into the policy and practices of the water utility. This is necessary to extract the explicit knowledge on the total variety of water use and losses. The use of night flow analysis to obtain inferred measurements of leakage is an example of using actual field measurements in the “bottom up” approach to replace estimates of distribution losses used in a “top down” approach.

The “bottom‐up” approach improves the accuracy of the water balance in reflecting the true water delivery and billing process. However, it requires more time and resources to conduct field measurements and research to gain the greater level of information required to improve the water balance. However, no detailed or accurate field measurement were made available during the compilation of this Master Plan, so all water balances have been prepared based on the “top down” approach.

The three phases that will be adopted while implementing the 5‐year NRW strategy will be:

 System assessment

 Intervention

 Operation and Maintenance

The primary focus of the three phases is to understand the distribution system, water use and losses while at the same time reduce both real and apparent losses. This approach has been indicated in Figure 12.

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Figure 12: UThukela District Municipality NRW Reduction Approach

6.5 Methodology Used for the UThukela District Municipality Water Balance

The water balance in the UDM was completed using the “top down” approach at this stage. The following steps are followed for completing the water balance in this way:

Step 1: the System Input Volume is calculated and included in the water balance Step 2: the components of the Billed Authorised Consumption were identified, calculated and summed up. These included the Billed Metered Consumption, Free Basic Water (consumption <=6kl/month, within the allocated consumer quota, majority being consumption of <=1kl/day on average), Metered Municipal Consumption and Metered Standpipes. The BAC is the Revenue Water in the water balance Step 3: the volume of Non‐Revenue Water is calculated by subtracting the Revenue Water from the System Input Volume Step 4: the components of the Unbilled Authorised Consumption were identified, calculated and summed up. These included Unmetered Municipal Use (firefighting, scouring etc) and Unmetered Standpipes’ consumption Step 5: the volumes of the Billed Authorised Consumption and Unbilled Authorised Consumption are summed up to get the Authorised Consumption value.

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Step 6: Water Losses are then calculated as the difference between System Input Volume and Authorised Consumption Step 7: the Real Losses are calculated by using IWA best practice even though at this stage, no field pressure and flow measurements were undertaken to determine Minimum Night Flows and Average Zone Pressures to aid in Real Loss determination. 76% of total water losses were estimated to account for the real losses. These were then input into a minimum night flow analysis model and iteration conducted to determine the best real figures to be presented. The real losses comprised of Mains and Distribution leaks, reservoir overflows and service connection leaks. Step 8: the Metering Inaccuracies are calculated using best known practice, approximated at 2% of the BAC, and the volume subtracted from Apparent Losses to get Unauthorised Consumption

7 Water Conservation/Water Demand Management within the UThukela District Municipality

7.1 Definition and Extent of Area of Operation

Apart from the information that has already been included in the Water Safety Plan, the following key system information has been integrated into this report (Table 9):

Table 9: UThukela District Municipality Key System Characteristics

Although all the efforts were made to obtain as much information as possible, the rural areas have a lot of independent supply schemes (standalone boreholes mainly), for which there were no records of billing or system input volumes. These systems have been excluded from the main analysis.

7.2 Institutional Impact, Influence and Dependency Model

Non‐Revenue Water has the potential to be central to how a WSP/WSA operates, as the optimising of operational and financial efficiency centres around the level of losses experienced by any distribution system. The concepts of Impact, Influence and Dependency of NRW activities must therefore be addressed at strategic (Master Plan) level.

For the purposes of this Master Plan, the following definitions apply

 “Impact” refers to the impact of other areas of operation/activity on WDM targets/activities;

 “influence” refers to what influence WDM has on other areas of operation/activity;

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 “Dependency” refers to the reliance of WDM activities on external role players to achieve NRW targets.

These have been rated according to their Impact, Influence and Dependency into five categories of Minimal (1), Low (2), Moderate (3), High (4) or Significant (5). The current, as well as the five year target perceived ratings are represented in Table 10 and presented separately in the radar graph and Figure 13 (Impact), Figure 14 (Influence) and Figure 15 (Dependency).

Table 10: WC/WDM and Non‐Revenue Water Area of Influence

Figure 13: Current Impact of Non‐Revenue Water Area on Other Areas of Operation

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Figure 14: Current Influence of Non‐Revenue Water Area on Other Areas of Operation

Figure 15: Current Dependency of Non‐Revenue Water Area on Other Areas of Operation

This strategic mapping exercise has presented the following scenarios:

 WC/WDM and NRW activities do not have a high influence on the CAD Office and Technical Records, or input into the management and accuracy Revenue Management database;

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 Other activities outside the control of WC/WDM and NRW have a significant impact on levels of NRW, most notably the WDM – Development and Planning; and

 NRW is reliant on external role‐players to achieve and sustain NRW targets.

7.3 Acknowledgement of WC/WDM in Other Key Municipal Documents

The UThukela DM has not been actively implementing a NRW/Water Loss Reduction Programme in recent years. Only Ezakheni area of supply has been subject of pressure management and advance pressure management initiatives in recent years (2012) but the programme has not been completed or followed up.

As part of ongoing system operations and maintenance, it is unclear if infrastructure that has exceeded its design service life is being replaced (e.g. mains replacement) or directed through the establishment of an Asset Management program. Most of the pipe replacements, system maintenance and NRW reduction activities have been conducted on a reactive manner, instead of doing it through a proactive Pipe Replacement Program.

7.4 Profile and Structure of WC/WDM Department

The Department of Water Services is currently responsible for any WC/WDM or NRW activity. The Section is headed by the Water Service Manager.

The Water Service Department has limited interaction with Department of Financial Services, Revenue Management Division. This has a negative influence to initiatives that require coordination, information sharing and strategic planning from these two sectors.

There is little awareness of/or education about NRW from both officials and councillors.

7.5 Institutional, Social, Economic and Technical Challenges for UDM

The following are the main Institutional, Social, Economic and Technical challenges for the UDM:

7.5.1 Institutional Challenges facing UDM

7.5.2 Socio & Economic Challenges

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attraction of investors, tourists and skilled human resource due to its location away from the two major cities namely, Durban and Johannesburg.  In the last years, there was a notable decline in the unemployment rate in the district municipality falling from 32% in 2001 to 22% in 2011. This followed a similar trend to that of the provincial figures, which declined by same amounts. Indaka still exhibits inferior economic indicators with the highest level of unemployment being 52% in 2011 whilst the lowest unemployment rate was in UMtshezi at 13%. There is not updated information on this topic.  Economic growth is low with no incentives to attract large industries and investments apart from tourism to the Drakensberg Area.  Registration of indigent users and implementation of Free Water Allocation (FBW) is extremely delayed.

7.5.3 Technical and O&M Challenges

 Knowledge of the infrastructure is limited to a few individuals. GIS information is limited and not updated.  Insufficient funds to refurbish infrastructure that in some cases more than 50 – 80 years old.  Water Loss Management is not been able to implement simply due to lack of resources, budgets, human resources, and priorities being routine operations functions.  There is minimal or no bulk or zonal metering in the towns and townships  Ladysmith Town is in high need of Pressure Management interventions. It has high and low pressure systems which often are connected due to negligence by the operators. Lack of operating rules and systems have contributed to the existing water loss problem getting worse due to water surges and transients.  Most the rural water schemes are providing free water through standpipes and there is no cost recovery. The cost for the schemes is being paid from the equitable share.  There is an insufficient budget provided for standby equipment which often results in longer downtime.  Rudimentary borehole schemes are not sustainable due to the ongoing drought in the regions.

7.5.4 Summary of key factors contributing to high levels of non‐revenue water

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 In general, flat rate tariffs produce high domestic consumptions, which in most of the cases consist in running water through internal leaks (leaking taps and toilets). Due to the lack of incentive and the low levels of education and water conservation awareness, the water losses in this typo of areas is extremely high.  Water Pressure Management, which is one of the most effective measures to reduce leakage and burst frequency in water supply networks, is almost inexistent at a Municipal Level. In addition, the few pressure reducing devices in the UDM are not maintained due to the lack of skills to do this maintenance works.  The WSP is operating under severe constraints and the long viability is poor unless non‐revenue losses are reduced, sufficient funding is made available to provide rehabilitation of infrastructure and there is a move to bulk regional schemes to improve the cost of running many schemes in an economically depressed and socially challenged region.  Tariff is still low when compared to national tariff charges but increasing it to above inflation levels will see stiff resistance from the political leadership even before it reaches the consumers.  Industries in Ladysmith are low and they are significant users but the revenue stream is inadequate to cross subsidize the poor and the non‐payment component of the revenue stream.

8 Review of Water Conservation/Water Demand Management Activities to Date

The UDM has for some time recognised the importance of minimising system losses although had exercised limited focused intervention to keep real losses under control. The Municipality has allocated the responsibility for WC/WDM to its Water and Sanitation Services Department.

In spite of the current water stressed environment, WC/WDM does not enjoy a relatively high profile. The working relationship between the Planning Department and other Directorates appears to be beneficial, although a lack of understanding of WC/WDM and NRW to any WSP/WSA’s operation appears to be present, particularly with those directly involved with finances and the technical services.

Although the target for reducing water losses has been set at a National President level, activities at UDM level to reach this goal have been limited due to the lack of proper planning and not fully understanding the consequences and potential benefits of WC/WDM.

8.1 Programmes

8.1.1 Uthukela DM Water Conservation & Water Demand Management Strategy

The Consultant was provided by the UDM with the “Water Conservation & Water Demand Management Strategy” which was adopted on the 30 June 2015 by COUNCIL RESOLUTION A37/06/15. The Main Objectives of this Water Conservation and Demand Management Strategy are as follows:

‐ To inculcate a culture of water conservation to the consumers. ‐ To reduce non‐revenue water losses to below 40% during 2016/2017 financial year. ‐ To reduce non‐revenue water to below 30% during 2019/2020 financial year ‐ To increase revenue water. ‐ To identify and register indigent consumers and provide them with free basic water supply. ‐ To identify business consumers that do not pay for water and make them pay for water supplied. ‐ To identify households that can afford to pay for water but do not pay for water and make them pay water supplied to them.

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‐ To measure water balance in order to quantify water supply input volume, revenue water and separate non – revenue water into real water losses and apparent water losses. ‐ To ultimately reduce real water loss to below 20% over five years.

The Consultant considers that the defined objectives are extremely ambitious and probably unrealistic. There is no conscience and real understanding of the efforts and funds that are necessary to reduce NRW from 78% (present NRW level) to 40% (target for the 2016/2017 FY). The Consultant included the main outlines in the analysis:

The Consultant reviewed the UDM WC/WDM Strategy (Please refer to Annexure A for details). Even the strategy might have a correct philosophy, is extremely general. The strategy should provide more definitions when it comes to means of implementing the proposed interventions. Also, there limited financial contents and responsible parties.

9 Situation Analysis (Baseline)

9.1 Source Data Supplied for Master Plan

The following data was requested as part of this project.

1. Bulk/reticulation layouts, indicating treatment works, reservoirs, network infrastructure, fittings, pipe sizes, etc in GIS shapefile format (partially provided) 2. Monthly Operation Reports, including SIV data (not provided). 3. Cadastral layout in GIS shapefile format (partially provided). 4. 10m and 5m interval contours in GIS format (provided). 5. Aerial photography of supply area (provided). 6. WTW production volumes (outlet meter readings for FY 2014/15) (not provided). 7. Last financial years’ billing database (volumes – 2014/15) (Partially provided, per Local Municipality). 8. Bulk meter trends and/or volumes for FY 2014/15: Surface and ground water information (not provided). 9. Water Resource Management Strategy (not provided). 10. Uthukeka DM Bulk Meter Audit Report ‐ March 2015 (provided). 11. Credit Control and Indigent Policy (provided). 12. Water Services Development Plan ‐ 2008 version (provided). 13. Water Safety Plan (not provided). 14. Surface and ground level water supply (not provided). 15. Municipality Integrated Development Plan (IDP) ‐ version 2015/16 – (provided) 16. System Schematics and layouts (provided). 17. Operations burst records per Local Municipality (not provided, information is not available). 18. Blue Drop Report (provided). 19. Technical Organogram (not provided). 20. DWS Reconciliation studies for UThukela DM (provided).

9.2 Integrity of Information Supplied for Master Plan

The Confidence Grading System was applied to the source data provided and the results have been included in Table 7.

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Data Description Data Confidence Grade System Input Volumes * 15% Contours *** 0‐5% Billing database ** 5‐10% WTW production volumes * 15‐20% Water and Sanitation Development Plan ** 5‐10% System schematics and layouts ** 5‐10% Population figures ** 5‐10% Infrastructure (water mains, connections, etc) * 20‐50% Standpipes information * >30% Table 11: System Data Confidence Grading

The confidence grading system as described in this section applies to the source data or raw data that was used as the basis for the analysis of results and has been included as an indication of the quality or integrity of information.

The integrity of data does have an impact on the accuracy of the analyses carried out as part of the scope of work but this shall be dealt with by applying 95% Confidence Levels to the indicators and water balance in this section. The worst affected were the billing and standpipes information.

9.3 Operational Schematic

The Professional Team was provided with a highly detailed schematic for all supply systems schemes. The operational schematics were conducted by UWP. This information and several meetings with the Operations Department were used to understand each system as much as possible at this stage.

All operational schematics used by the Professional Team are included in Annexure B: System Operational Schematics.

9.4 Billing Database Analysis

The integrity of evaluation of revenue water in any water balance is dependent on the characteristics and quality of the billing database being analysed. The following actions were undertaken to establish the reliability of the billing database received from UDM:

 Confirmation that the billing codes received covering the entire database were correct;

 Discussion with the WSA water supply managers to shed light on degree of consumers by‐ passing meters and the average age and condition of the meters on site;

 Confirmation that every meter was read regularly (monthly); and

 Determination that each metered property has only one meter – though this scenario is currently changing.

The entire UThukela District Municipality billing database was received from the Finance Department for analysis. The spread‐sheets were stripped of all financial values and contained monthly meter reads/consumption figures per registered consumers and meters only, for the 2014/15 Financial Year. These data sets were cleaned and allocated to the various supply systems or Local Municipalities using the “area” field on the database. Bulk meter and duplicated records needed to be highlighted and discarded. All data was sorted per month and per account using spreadsheet and pivot table tools. The summary information and results are discussed later in this report.

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The main challenges experienced when attempting to analyse the billing database were:

i.) The billing database could not be assigned to all supply zones and some areas needed to be grouped per Local Municipalities. This introduced errors in the water balance calculations since supply schemes/systems were not perfectly grouped into municipal boundaries. For further NRW studies this needs to be addressed.

ii.) Reliability of the billing data base is low, with the following main issues:

 The billing for Indaka LM, Imbabazane LM and Moyeni/Zwelisha & Langkloof is inexistent; there is no billing records for these areas in the Billing data base.  Urban areas billing database is of extremely higher quality than in rural areas.  Average consumption per connections is extremely high, 1 524 litres/connection/day. In particular, the average consumption for Estcourt is 1 793 l/conn/d. For the rest of the areas, the total average consumptions is of 1 275 l/conn/d.  From previous studies, it’s known that the quality of meter readings in rural areas is very poor.

Table 12: Billing Data Integrity Analysis for 2014 ‐ 2015 ‐ All Areas

iii.) Comparing the number of connections given with the infrastructure information and the number of billing records, there were big inconsistencies found, per Local Municipality and in the total numbers. For the whole UThukela DM, the number of connections not included in the billing system is estimated as a 219% of the numbered billed connections. This is something that should be addressed as an urgent matter.

iv.) The inability to reconcile the billing database with the GIS database is cause for concern.

9.4.1 Analysis of Billed Consumption Trends

The Billed Metered Consumption per supply system (where billing data was reflective), for the 2014/15 financial year has been summarised in Table 13 and Table 14, but also presented graphically in Figure 16 to Figure 26. A detailed analysis of these figures has been included electronically in Annexure C: Billing Data Analysis (FY 2014/2015) hereto.

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Table 13: UThukela DM – Billing Database Integrity Analysis – 2014/15 Financial Year

Figure 16: Billing Database Integrity for the complete UThukela District Municipality: 2014/15 Financial Year

Figure 17: Billing Database Integrity for Ladysmith Figure 18: Billing Database Integrity for Ezakheni: and Steadville: 2014/15 Financial Year 2014/15 Financial Year

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Figure 19: Billing Database Integrity for Colenso: Figure 20: Billing Database Integrity for 2014/15 Financial Year Moyeni/Zwelisha & Langkloof: 2014/15 Financial Year

Figure 21: Billing Database Integrity for Figure 22: Billing Database Integrity for Bergville: Winterton: 2014/15 Financial Year 2014/15 Financial Year

Figure 23: Billing Database Integrity for Estcourt: Figure 24: Billing Database Integrity for Weenen: 2014/15 Financial Year 2014/15 Financial Year

Figure 25: Billing Database Integrity for Indaka Figure 26: Billing Database Integrity for Imbabazane LM: 2014/15 Financial Year LM: 2014/15 Financial Year

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Table 14: UThukela DM: Billing Database Analysis ‐ Free Basic Water Allocations 2013/2014FY

Figure 27: Free Basic Water Allocation for the complete UThukela District Municipality (Number of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year

Figure 28: Free Basic Water Allocation for the complete UThukela District Municipality (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year

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Figure 29: Free Basic Water Allocation for Ladysmith and Figure 30: Free Basic Water Allocation for Ladysmith and Steadville (Number of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year Steadville Areas of Supply (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year

Figure 31: Free Basic Water Allocation for Ezakheni (Number Figure 32: Free Basic Water Allocation for Ezakheni Area of of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year Supply (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year

Figure 33: Free Basic Water Allocation for Colenso (Number Figure 34: Free Basic Water Allocation for Colenso Area of of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year Supply (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year

Figure 35: Free Basic Water Allocation for Moyeni/Zwelisha Figure 36: Free Basic Water Allocation for Moyeni/Zwelisha & Langkloof (Number of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year & Langkloof Areas of Supply (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year

Figure 37: Free Basic Water Allocation for Winterton Figure 38: Free Basic Water Allocation for Winterton Area of (Number of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year Supply (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year

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Figure 39: Free Basic Water Allocation for Bergville (Number Figure 40: Free Basic Water Allocation for Bergville Area of of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year Supply (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year

Figure 41: Free Basic Water Allocation for Estcourt (Number Figure 42: Free Basic Water Allocation for Estcourt Area of of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year Supply (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year

Figure 43: Free Basic Water Allocation for Weenen (Number Figure 44: Free Basic Water Allocation for Weenen Area of of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year Supply (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year

Figure 45: Free Basic Water Allocation for Indaka LM Figure 46: Free Basic Water Allocation for Indaka LM Areas (Number of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year of Supply (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year

Figure 47: Free Basic Water Allocation for Imbabazane LM Figure 48: Free Basic Water Allocation for Imbabazane LM (Number of Records): 2014/15 Financial Year Areas of Supply (Volume): 2014/15 Financial Year

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9.5 Baseline Water Balance

Water Balances were calculated for the entire UDM area of supply for the 2014/15 Financial Year, with additional information and explanation provided for each water balance component in the following sections.

9.5.1 System Input Volume

The System Input Volume (SIV) is defined as the total volume of water entering a discrete consumption zone. UDM’s SIV was estimated based on WTW designed capacities and the best estimations done by the Supply System Operators. The WTW metering status is not completely know, as requested information was never provided, but

Due to these factors, the estimated SIV has a very low level of confidence (±10%), which could be even lower. UDM should attend to this as a matter of extreme urgency. Accurately measuring the SIV is the number one priority for any WCWDM programme.

As previously mentioned, this study does not include stand‐alone supply systems, which are mainly fed from boreholes supplied schemes. Due to the size of these systems (they account for a very small portion of the water supply infrastructure) and the lack of data, was agreed that these systems will not form part of the WC/WDM Master Plan.

All information has been summarized in Table 15 .The full interactive spread‐sheet has been attached hereto in Annexure D.

Table 15: UDM Systems ‐ Schemes’ System Input Volumes

9.5.2 Billed Authorised Consumption

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Billed Authorised Consumption (BAC) constitutes the water balance components from which revenue could be generated and has been divided into two components:

 Metered customer consumption

 Consumption within Free Basic Water Allocation – 6 kl/month/household

These two component volumes were derived from individual meter connections’ data. Billed Metered Consumption Billed Unmetered Not Free water Free water allocation Uthukela DM ‐ Billed Authorised Consumption Total Consumption (>6 Kl/month) (<6 Kl/month) Ml/year Ml/year Ml/year Ml/year Ladysmith and Steadville 5 994 5 952 42 Ezakheni 152 152 0 3 834 Emnambithi LM Colenso 393 388 5 Sub‐total 6 538 6 492 47 3 834 Moyeni / Zwelisha & Langkloof 00 0 Winterton 205 191 14 Okhahlamba LM Bergville 189 188 1 Sub‐total 394 379 15 0 Estcourt / Wembezi 2 520 2 508 12 Umtshezi LM Weenen 109 108 1 Sub‐total 2 629 2 616 13 0 Ekuvukeni Indaka LM Tugela Estates Sub‐total 00 0 0 Loskop Imbabazane LM Sub‐total 00 0 0 Totals 9 561 9 487 74 3 834 Table 16 contains the breakdown of Billed and Unbilled Authorised Consumption for each of the Supply scheme or Local Municipalities.

Billed Metered Consumption Billed Unmetered Not Free water Free water allocation Uthukela DM ‐ Billed Authorised Consumption Total Consumption (>6 Kl/month) (<6 Kl/month) Ml/year Ml/year Ml/year Ml/year Ladysmith and Steadville 5 994 5 952 42 Ezakheni 152 152 0 3 834 Emnambithi LM Colenso 393 388 5 Sub‐total 6 538 6 492 47 3 834 Moyeni / Zwelisha & Langkloof 00 0 Winterton 205 191 14 Okhahlamba LM Bergville 189 188 1 Sub‐total 394 379 15 0 Estcourt / Wembezi 2 520 2 508 12 Umtshezi LM Weenen 109 108 1 Sub‐total 2 629 2 616 13 0 Ekuvukeni Indaka LM Tugela Estates Sub‐total 00 0 0 Loskop Imbabazane LM Sub‐total 00 0 0 Totals 9 561 9 487 74 3 834 Table 16: UDM District Systems/ Schemes’ Billed Authorised Consumptions

9.5.3 Unbilled Authorised Consumption

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Unbilled Authorised Consumption (UAC) was primarily made up of all UThukela District Municipality’s sanctioned devices that provided predominantly rural settlements with some form of water supply, and the formal metered connections that for some reason have not been included in the billing database.

The Unbilled Metered (UM) consumption has been estimated per supply zone, knowing the characteristics of the area and the quality of the billing database. From previous studies information and the professional team experience, the UM consumptions has been estimated between 0.5% BMC to a maximum of 20% BMC in areas that is well known that an important number of consumers have a water meter, but these meters are not read.

The Unbilled Unmetered (UU) consumption has been calculated taking into account these two ways of water supply:

 Unmetered standpipes, for the main schemes

 Unmetered properties with a water connection

The number of standpipes has been provided through GIS information, which was not complete or updated, and the confidence level for this data was very low. Nevertheless a number of standpipes fed from the Water Treatment Works supply systems has been calculated. Standpipes fed from stand alones systems are not included in the calculations. By estimating the number of houses that each standpipe can supply, an average volume of water was assigned to each standpipe, which is between 1.0kl/day to 2.0 kl/day, depending on the area.

The unmetered number of properties was calculated as the difference between the total number of households with water supply (information included in the IDP report) and the number of connections for each Local Municipality, taking into account and subtracting the number of households fed from standpipes. An estimated average consumption of 0.410 kl/day has been assigned to those consumers

Other UAC components that were also identified included firefighting, emergency drought relief, scouring and sewerage cleaning. The average Unmetered Municipal Consumption was assumed to represent around 1% of the SIV per system/scheme. The individual systems’ Unbilled Authorised Consumptions for the 2014/15 FY have been included in Table 17.

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Table 17: UDM District Systems/ Schemes’ Unbilled Authorised Consumptions

9.5.4 Apparent Losses

Apparent Losses are comprised of Unauthorized Consumption and Metering Inaccuracies. Unauthorized consumptions are perceived to be from illegal connections while metering inaccuracies are perceived losses arising from the deterioration of average meter accuracy due to normal wear and tear that either under‐reads, or in exceptional cases over‐reads the volume of water used by the customer. This factor is greatly reliant on supply water quality as well as size and type of meter. Due to the top‐down approach adopted for the preparation of the water balances, the ratio of Apparent Losses to Total Water Losses had to be determined. Figure 49: Guidelines for Determination of Apparent Loss/Total Water Loss Ratio presents the current best practice in this regard: based on the knowledge of the supply areas and prevailing supply/metering conditions, the total apparent loss percentage is determined as the sum of illegal connections, meter age and accuracy and data transfer. The 2014/15 FY apparent losses analyses have been provided in Table 18.

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Apparent Losses Determination (Allowances of Total Water Losses)

Illegal Connections Meter Age and Accuracy Data Transfer

Good Poor Water Water Very high 10% Poor > 10yrs 8% 10% Poor 8%

High 8%

Average 6% Average 5‐ 4% 8% Average 5% 10 years Low 4%

Very low 2% Good < 5 2% 4% Good 2% years % Apparent = % Illegal connections + % meter age and accuracy + data transfer error

Figure 49: Guidelines for Determination of Apparent Loss/Total Water Loss Ratio

For UDM, the Apparent Loss ratio was very different between systems, having a range between 2% and 10% of the Total Water Losses. The final Apparent Loss ratio for the combined UDM was calculated as 4% of the Total Water Losses. This ratio must be revised when additional information is available since is extremely low compare to national and international standards.

Table 18: UThukela District Municipality Systems/ Schemes’ Apparent Losses Analyses

9.5.5 Real Losses

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Real Losses are determined from leaks/losses from mains and service connections as well as reservoir overflows. Mains leaks and service connection leaks are calculated from analysing minimum night flows (MNF) from storage reservoirs. The two can be separated into individual components by using freely available software (such as SANFLOW developed by the South African Water Research Commission). Not all MNF consists exclusively of losses and/or leaks – in some cases there are legitimate night‐time consumers and intermittent night usage from users which form part of the recorded night flow rates. Leaks on private property, which passes through a customer meter, are also regarded as being part of consumption.

It is therefore necessary to “unbundle” MNF rates into different components to fully understand the quantity of real losses. The components of MNF have been represented schematically in Figure 50: Components of Minimum Night Flow. MNF is comprised of the following components: background losses, normal night use and excess night flow. Of these, only background losses and excess night flow make up real losses.

Figure 50: Components of Minimum Night Flow

Although no field‐work to measure MNF was carried out at this stage, an estimation of around 80% of water losses was adopted to represent the MNF for the complete UDM (based on the difference between Total Water Losses and Apparent Losses as determined in the previous section).

9.5.6 UThukela District Municipality Water Balance for 2014/15 Financial Year

The 2014/15 financial year water balances for each individual supply system were created in the manner described in the previous sections and have been summarised in Table 19 to Table 28, complete with 95% confidence levels. The full water balances in IWA format with 95% confidence levels per system/scheme have been attached hereto in Annexure F: Water Balances obtained from the predictive model.

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Water Balance Component 2014/15 Financial Year Volume (kl) 95% CL System Input Volume 19 564 000 ±20% Billed Authorised Consumption 5 992 703 ±15% Unbilled Authorised Consumption 3 778 590 ±20% Apparent Losses 586 920 ±15% Real Losses 9 205 788 ±15% Total Water Losses 9 792 708 ±15% Non‐Revenue Water 13 571 297 ±15% Table 19: Ladysmith and Steadville Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance

Water Balance Component 2014/15 Financial Year Volume (kl) 95% CL System Input Volume 10 950 000 ±20% Billed Authorised Consumption 3 908 223 ±15% Unbilled Authorised Consumption 1 157 282 ±20% Apparent Losses 21 900 ±15% Real Losses 5 862 595 ±15% Total Water Losses 5 884 495 ±15% Non‐Revenue Water 7 041 777 ±15% Table 20: Ezakheni Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance

Water Balance Component 2014/15 Financial Year Volume (kl) 95% CL System Input Volume 657 000 ±20% Billed Authorised Consumption 394 126 ±15% Unbilled Authorised Consumption 174 236 ±20% Apparent Losses 44 676 ±15% Real Losses 43 962 ±15% Total Water Losses 88 638 ±15% Non‐Revenue Water 262 874 ±15% Table 21: Colenso Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance

Water Balance Component 2014/15 Financial Year Volume (kl) 95% CL System Input Volume 949 000 ±20% Billed Authorised Consumption 18 250 ±15% Unbilled Authorised Consumption 459 216 ±20% Apparent Losses 0 ±5% Real Losses 471 534 ±15% Total Water Losses 471 534 ±15% Non‐Revenue Water 930 750 ±15% Table 22: Moyeni / Zwelisha & Langkloof Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance

Water Balance Component 2014/15 Financial Year Volume (kl) 95% CL System Input Volume 730 000 ±20% Billed Authorised Consumption 204 565 ±15% Unbilled Authorised Consumption 332 488 ±20% Apparent Losses 26 280 ±15% Real Losses 166 667 ±15% Total Water Losses 192 947 ±15% Non‐Revenue Water 525 435 ±15% Table 23: Winterton Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance

Water Balance Component 2014/15 Financial Year Volume (kl) 95% CL System Input Volume 949 000 ±20% Billed Authorised Consumption 189 067 ±15%

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Water Balance Component 2014/15 Financial Year Volume (kl) 95% CL Unbilled Authorised Consumption 168 142 ±20% Apparent Losses 24 674 ±15% Real Losses 567 118 ±15% Total Water Losses 591 792 ±15% Non‐Revenue Water 759 933 ±15% Table 24: Bergville Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance

Water Balance Component 2014/15 Financial Year Volume (kl) 95% CL System Input Volume 12 775 000 ±20% Billed Authorised Consumption 2 519 510 ±15% Unbilled Authorised Consumption 2 478 238 ±20% Apparent Losses 255 500 ±15% Real Losses 7 521 753 ±15% Total Water Losses 7 777 253 ±15% Non‐Revenue Water 10 255 490 ±15% Table 25: Estcourt / Wembezi Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance

Water Balance Component 2014/15 Financial Year Volume (kl) 95% CL System Input Volume 548 000 ±20% Billed Authorised Consumption 109 262 ±15% Unbilled Authorised Consumption 146 065 ±20% Apparent Losses 14 248 ±15% Real Losses 278 425 ±15% Total Water Losses 292 673 ±15% Non‐Revenue Water 438 738 ±15% Table 26: Weenen Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance

Water Balance Component 2014/15 Financial Year Volume (kl) 95% CL System Input Volume 4 088 000 ±20% Billed Authorised Consumption 0 ±0% Unbilled Authorised Consumption 1 266 976 ±20% Apparent Losses 40 880 ±15% Real Losses 2 780 144 ±15% Total Water Losses 2 821 024 ±15% Non‐Revenue Water 4 088 000 ±15% Table 27: Indaka LM Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance

Water Balance Component 2014/15 Financial Year Volume (kl) 95% CL System Input Volume 547 000 ±20% Billed Authorised Consumption 0 ±0% Unbilled Authorised Consumption 292 195 ±20% Apparent Losses 5 475 ±15% Real Losses 249 830 ±15% Total Water Losses 255 305 ±15% Non‐Revenue Water 547 500 ±15% Table 28: Imbabazane LM Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance

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9.5.7 Entire UThukela District Municipality’s Systems Combined

The water balance for the entire UThukela District Municipality has been summarised in Table 29:

Water Balance Component 2014/15 Financial Year Volume (kl) 95% CL System Input Volume 52 173 500 ±10.1% Billed Authorised Consumption 13 335 705 ±11.2% Unbilled Authorised Consumption 10 258 428 ±9.7% Apparent Losses 1 031 553 ±6.6% Real Losses 27 548 814 ±20.4% Total Water Losses 28 168 367 ±19.7% Non‐Revenue Water 38 837 795 ±14.2% Table 29: Entire UDM Supply System 2014/15 Financial Year Water Balance

The complete individual and combined component‐based IWA format water balances with 95% confidence level grading for each of the systems have been compiled and have been attached as Annexure F hereto. The application of 95% confidence limits not only allows the water balance to actually balance within statistically determined ranges, but it also assists in determining which components of the water balance are weakest in terms of reliability and accuracy of input. These water balances help provide a greater understanding of each of the supply systems/ waterworks and also assist in the preparation of specific intervention strategies and cost/benefit calculations which shall be dealt with in more detail in the following sections. The current entire UDM’s water balance has been provided in Figure 51: Entire UDM Current Water Balance with 95% Confidence Levels: Standard Presentation.

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Figure 51: Entire UDM Current Water Balance with 95% Confidence Levels: Standard Presentation

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9.6 Current WC/WDM Budget Allocations

The purpose of this report is to table the extent of Non‐Revenue Water in the UDM water supply system and not necessarily to quantify the revenue generating components of the system.

With respect to the NRW components determined from the component based water balance for the entire district, the costs to UDM that are being experienced have been included in Table 30 based on the average bulk production/purchase cost of 5.5 R/kl.

Annual Volumes Annual Cost to UDM Water Balance Component (kl) @ 5.5 R/kl System Input Volume 52 173 100 R 286 952 050 Unbilled Authorised Consumption 12 390 093 R 68 145 509 Unbilled Metered 54 432 R 299 375 Unbilled Unmetered 12 335 661 R 67 846 134 Apparent Losses 971 172 R 5 341 447 Unauthorised Consumption 493 130 R 2 712 213 Metering Inaccuracies 478 043 R 2 629 234 Real Losses 25 416 892 R 139 792 907 Mains Leaks and Bursts 3 812 534 R 20 968 936 Reservoir Overflows 508 338 R 2 795 858 Service Connection Leaks 21 096 020 R 116 028 112 Total Non‐ Revenue Water 38 778 157 R 213 279 862 Table 30: Financial Implications of Non‐Revenue Water Components

9.6.1 Cost of Water per System

The Annual Total cost of supplying water to the UDM per system (or local Municipality) has been summarized in the table below. These costs are derived from SIV volumes during the current 2014/15 FY.

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Table 31: Annual Cost of Water per System (Current)

9.6.2 Cost per Water Balance Component (Current)

The Annual Non‐Revenue Water costs per system within the UThukela District Municipality have been summarised in Table 32. The ranking column grades the comparative inefficiencies of the various systems.

Table 32: Annual Cost of Non‐Revenue Water per System (2014/15 Financial Year)

9.7 Key Performance Indicators

The key performance indicators for the individual systems within UDM and their ranking have been included in Table 33.

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Table 33: Key Performance Indicators (per supply system) based on 2014/15 Financial Year Data

9.7.1 Operational Indicators

The IWA Water Losses Task Force originally compiled an international data set of 27 water supply systems from 20 countries. As and when information from other systems becomes available, this data set is updated. Initial analysis of this data has resulted in the calculation of typical ranges of the recommended IWA performance indicators, which have been included in Figure 52: Typical Ranges of IWA Performance Indicators.

Liters/connection/day Technical (when the system is pressurized) at an average pressure ILI of: Performance Category 10 m 20 m 30 m 40 m 50 m A 1 - 2 < 50 < 75 < 100 < 125 B 2 - 4 50-100 75-150 100-200 125-250 C 4 - 8 100-200 150-300 200-400 250-500 Country Country Situation

Developed Developed D > 8 > 200 > 300 > 400 > 500

A 1 - 4 < 50 < 100 < 150 < 200 < 250

B 4 - 8 50-100 100-200 150-300 200-400 250-500

C 8 - 16 100-200 200-400 300-600 400-800 500-1000 Country Country Situation

Developing Developing D > 16 > 200 > 400 > 600 > 800 > 1000

Figure 52: Typical Ranges of IWA Performance Indicators

Depending on the nature of the system (developed or developing) and the value of the key operational indicator (ILI), guidelines for further intervention per category are as follows:

A: Further loss reduction may be uneconomic unless there are shortages; careful analysis needed to identify cost effective improvement. B: Potential for marked improvements; consider pressure management; better active leakage control practices, and better network maintenance.

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C: Poor leakage record; tolerable only if water is plentiful and cheap; even then, analyze level and nature of leakage and intensify leakage reduction efforts. D: Horrendously inefficient use of resources; leakage reduction programs imperative and high priority.

It must be noted that the IWA Key Performance Indicators contained in the above table are a function of the number of service connections in the distribution system. The technical indicators CARL and ILI have only been proven if there are greater than 10 000 connections in the zone being analysed, and if the service connection density is greater than 20 connections/kilometre of reticulation main.

UDM has approximately 84 000 connections in total (although this figure is very unreliable), has a service connection density of approximately 38 connections/km. The current rating of the UDM system KPI’s (Developing Country Situation; ILI: 14.0; and Total Water Losses per Connection: 856 litres/conn/day) to the international data set is “C”: Poor leakage record; tolerable only if water is plentiful and cheap; even then, analyze level and nature of leakage and intensify leakage reduction efforts.

Key Performance Indicator Current KPI Value

Water Resources: Inefficiency of use of Water Resources (RL/SIV) % 49%

Operational:

Water losses (m 3/service connection/year) 312.5

Water losses (litres/service connection/day) 856.2

Current Annual Real Losses (m 3/service connection/year) 301

Current Annual Real Losses (litres/service connection/day) 824.7

Unavoidable Annual Real Losses (m 3/service connection/year) 21.6

Unavoidable Annual Real Losses (litres/service connection/day) 59.1

Apparent Losses (m 3/service connection/year) 11.5

Apparent Losses (litres/service connection/day) 32

Infrastructure Leakage Index 14.0

Financial: Non‐Revenue water by Volume (%) 74%

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9.8 Demand Projections

Should the UDM system be allowed to grow in line with current growth projections (as included in the Bulk Water Master Plan) and taking into account system attrition i.e. the rate of deterioration of infrastructure, the projected water balance components have been included in Table 34. This “do nothing” approach (Scenario 1) quantifies important figures in terms of reducing NRW volumes as any intervention proposed will first and foremost need to overcome the impact of normal growth and attrition before the benefits of intervention will become evident.

A detailed breakdown and water balances for the individual systems for this particular scenario have been included in Annexure F.

Table 34: Entire UThukela District Projected Key Performance Indicators – Without NRW Reduction Intervention (Scenario 1)

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Scenario 1 (no intervention) determined that System Input Volume across the entire UDM area of supply would increase approximately 15% to 59 847 Ml/year and NRW by volume would increase approximately 17% to 45 549 Ml/year within the 5‐year Master Plan period. The Inefficiency of Use of Water Resources would increase approximately 15% and the NRW by Volume increase to around 76%.

10 Key Challenges Identified in Implementing WC/WDM Activities

The following points were noted as challenges that have being encountered in the process of implementing WC/WDM strategies:

The main challenges experienced when attempting to analyse the billing database were:

The billing database could not always be assigned to all supply zones and some areas needed to be grouped per Local Municipalities. This introduced errors in the water balance calculations since supply schemes/systems were not perfectly grouped into municipal boundaries. For further NRW studies this needs to be addressed.

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Table 35: Billing Data Integrity Analysis for 2014 ‐ 2015 ‐ All Areas

The billing database was unreliable in terms of quality, with the following main issues:

D) Inadequate background data on individual supply schemes/systems, especially when it comes to billing and SIV data.

E) Lack of understanding and implementation of appropriate design standards that could minimize NRW volumes even at design stage.

F) Insufficient understanding by UDM Departments of seriousness and cost of NRW, leading to insufficient budgets being made available for NRW reduction activities.

G) Dedicated UDM capacity constraints. The process of receiving information from the UDM was quite frustrating and did not provide positive results.

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11 Water Conservation/Water Demand Management Implementation Strategy

11.1 Overall Target for Non‐Revenue Water Reduction

Following the methodology used as a basis for preparing the component‐based water balance, the Non‐ Revenue Water reduction strategy and intervention guidelines have been proposed for each of the readily identifiable and unique water balance components. The recommendations contained in this section apply to either or both of operational best practice or targeted reduction of certain Non‐Revenue Water components.

Once the strategy for reducing Non‐Revenue Water has been tabled, the estimated effect of the intervention and financial cost:benefit analyses will be tabled in later sections. This section is therefore limited to detailing the scope of recommended interventions – financial implications are presented in the following section.

An interactive spreadsheet has been developed that summarizes the recommended intervention strategy, anticipated impact of intervention on Non‐Revenue Water and economic evaluation of all recommended interventions. This spreadsheet has been designed to act as a stand‐alone spreadsheet that encompasses all information and recommendations contained in this report.

11.2 Available Non‐Revenue Water Reduction Interventions

11.2.1 Real Loss Control

Virtually every water distribution system in the world incurs losses through leakage, and those leaks have been present since the systems were first installed or constructed. Leakage losses cannot be completely avoided, although they can be managed to remain within economic limits.

To control real or physical losses, it is important to restate the components that make up real losses. In the IWA water balance, real losses are made up of mains leaks, service connection leaks and reservoir overflows, with the first two typically making up the greatest volume of losses. Losses from these elements are the basis for determining the UARL, and the minimizing of these loss components form the basis for determining the economic level of leakage for a water distribution system.

The four‐component approach to controlling real losses, shown in Figure 53, has been developed as a template for water system operators to maintain economically low levels of leakage over a medium‐ to long‐term period. The core of the graphic represents that any system will incur a certain amount of recoverable leakage that can be reduced to its economic value with the proper combination of the four leakage controls.

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Figure 53: The Four Component Approach to the Control of Real Losses

11.2.2 Active Leakage Control

Active leakage control consists of the following activities:

 Regular inspection and sounding of all water main fittings and connections: leakage surveys;

 Leakage modelling via innovative methods such as minimum night flow analysis;

 Metering of individual pressure zones;

 District Metered Area (DMA) metering: measuring total inflow per day, week or month;

 Continuous or intermittent night flow measurements;

 Short‐period measurements at any time of day (spot flow and pressure measurements);

 Temporary placing of leak noise detectors and loggers.

The effect of burst and leak run time has been exposed and incorporated as an active leakage control strategy. Leaks left to run long periods of time create large annual loss volumes. In any distribution system, the greatest annual volume of real losses occur from long‐running, small‐to‐medium sized leaks on customer service connections, except at very low densities of service connections. To achieve

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successful leakage control, water utilities must be effective and efficient in providing routine surveillance to identify leaks and in executing timely, lasting repairs.

11.2.3 Pressure Management

Another major innovation of efficient loss control is pressure management. It is common engineering design of water supply systems that adequate pressure be provided to ensure that a specified minimal level of service is met.

However, it is now understood that certain types of leaks are very sensitive to pressure. Excess pressure – which is not always carefully assessed by water system operators – has a cost in terms of higher leakage and unnecessary energy usage. Better understanding high and low pressure variations gives suppliers more control in preventing surging ruptures and backflow conditions, thereby extending the life of infrastructure and safeguarding distribution system water quality.

Pressure control has proven to be effective in reducing leakage from “background” leaks, or those leaks that are so small that they are not easily located or repaired through conventional means. The installation of pressure reducing valves (PRV’s) and use of selective pressure reduction during minimum usage night‐ time hours is a technique that is effective in economically reducing background leakage. This technique has greatly challenged the traditional concepts of what is regarded as “unavoidable” leakage, and assisted the development of the Unavoidable Annual Real Losses (UARL) calculation.

Specifying appropriate pressure control has been found to be one of the most successful and cost‐ effective means of controlling leakage. Pressure management consists of the following activities:  Pressure modelling via innovative methods such as the Fixed and Variable Area Discharge Paths (FAVAD) model;

 Controlling pressure close to, but greater than, the minimum standard of service;

 Operation of discrete pressure zones configured based upon topography or service supply standards;

 Limiting maximal pressure levels or surges in pressure;

 Off‐peak pressure reduction where feasible to reduce losses from small “background” leaks.

11.2.4 District Metered Areas (DMA’s)

Establishing the practice of discrete zoning or sectorization in large water distribution systems has been an important factor in implementing ongoing active leakage control. By creating district metered areas or DMA’s that range in size from several hundred to several thousand properties each, water usage patterns can be monitored closely to infer leakage rates based upon minimal night flow rates.

Establishing DMA’s and utilizing leakage modelling techniques effectively provides a quantitative measure of leakage to the water utility manager. This information is available as the “bottom‐up” contribution to the water balance, improving the accuracy and reliability of that document.

Such measurements also form the basis for leakage reduction targets on a DMA basis. Flexibility exists in the manner in which DMA’s are configured such that possible concerns for fire flow limitations, closed valves and customer usage variations can be safely and cost‐effectively managed.

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11.2.5 Apparent Loss Control

Apparent losses typically don’t carry the tangible impact that is experienced with real losses. Rather, they wield a significant financial effect on both water suppliers as well as customers. Apparent losses also compromise efforts to reliably distinguish actual water consumption from real loss volumes.

In the IWA water balance, apparent losses are represented by metering inaccuracies and illegal consumption. Typically, in South African water supply systems, the latter (unauthorized consumption) constitutes the largest volume.

Financially, apparent losses represent service rendered without payment recovered. The short‐term economic impact of apparent losses may be much greater than real losses since they occur at the consumer tariff charged to customers, while short‐term real losses occur at the marginal or unit cost of water.

It is evident that both real and apparent losses have a significant impact on infrastructure development: high real losses result in oversized pipelines and storage facilities, while high apparent losses sacrifice a portion of utility revenue that could be invested in infrastructure needs. Recovering apparent loss can be attractive since it usually offers a speedy payback; controlling apparent losses also improves equity in revenue collection since a portion of apparent losses occur when some active customers are inadvertently left out of the billing system.

All nonpaying consumers are effectively subsidized by paying customers, resulting in pressures that exacerbate the need for higher water rates.

Similar to real losses, a four‐component approach to control apparent losses is offered in Figure 54. The notion that current, economic and unavoidable levels of apparent loss exist for any water system follows the same logic as the assessment of real losses in a water supply system.

The four component approach can be used as a guide for any water operator in determining where the greatest amounts of apparent loss are believed to exist, and offers interventions available to reduce overall apparent losses to an appropriate, economic level. The nature of the interventions needed to control apparent loss in water supply systems parallel policies and controls that are used in financial accounting.

Many water operators perceive customer meter inaccuracy is the sole “administrative” loss that occurs in water supply systems. While numerous utilities have documented accountability improvements by replacing old, worn residential meters, or “right‐sizing” large commercial or industrial meters, it should be recognized that apparent losses have a number components, including:

 Customer meter inaccuracy, usually occurring due to meter wear, malfunction or inappropriate size or type of meter;

 Data transfer error in getting customer metered usage data into a database or billing system;

 Data analysis error, including poor estimating procedures used for unmetered or unread accounts;

 Poor accounting, including lack of controls that ensure accounts exist for all water users and bills are issued or tabulated (even if water is supplied at no cost). This also includes procedural gaps that allow legitimate water users to exist in “non‐billed” status;

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 All forms of unauthorized use, including tampering with metering equipment, water taken illegally from fire hydrants, unauthorized taps into service mains or unauthorized restoration of water service connection valves after violation discontinuance by the water supplier; and

 Weak or non‐existent policy, including the often‐used practice of not billing/metering municipal‐owned or other public buildings, allowing unrestricted use of fire hydrants, lack of enforcement of existing statutes, lack of promotion of the value of water, etc.

Figure 54: The Four Component Approach to the Control of Apparent Losses

11.2.6 Authorized Consumption

Authorized consumption forms an integral part of the water balance calculations. However, the confirmation of the integrity of the data in the billing database did highlight certain shortcomings of the existing billing database.

The billing database as provided by UDM was used as the basis for authorized consumption in the water balance calculations.

11.2.7 Unauthorized Consumption

Unauthorized consumption could contribute significantly to the water balance and potentially forms the largest component of apparent loss. Unauthorized consumption comprises of both consumers who have registered connections but have bypassed these illegally as well as those consumers who do not have registered connections.

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In the “top‐down” approach of compiling the IWA water balance, the quantification of unauthorized consumption is very subjective and depends entirely on the operator’s feel for the system. The simplest way of determining the quantity of unauthorised consumption is to apply a factor to the entire water losses volume (determined from the water balance by subtracting authorised consumption from the system input volume).

12 Non‐Revenue Water Reduction Implementation Strategy

12.1 Non‐Revenue Water Reduction Interactive Model

In accordance with the overall brief, the interactive predictive model was developed in Microsoft Excel that allows flexibility in determining the output from any number of scenarios on a per‐system and overall UDM perspective. This allows for the following to be modelled:

 System Input Reduction modelling (budget‐dependent)

 Billing Improvement modelling (budget‐dependent)

 NRW Target establishment, determining target NRW % by volume and budget requirements

 Maximum achievable NRW % by volume

 NRW target establishment by cost:benefit ratios

Flexibility has been built into the model which allows the cost and impact of a mains replacement programme to be included in the model or not. As a default for all analysis carried out as part of this study, the costs and benefit of any mains replacement programme has been excluded.

12.2 Minimum Achievable Levels of Non‐Revenue Water

The minimum practical achievable NRW by Volume for the entire UDM area of supply has been established as 56.6% of the SIV ‐ it will become prohibitively expensive and require a disproportionate amount of time, resources and budget to achieve any better target than this in the next 5‐years. Based on the predictive model that was prepared as part of this investigation, the cost of all NRW reduction interventions required to realize this target has been determined as approximately R107 million when discounted back to NPV – this does not includes mains replacement programme.

In addition, there are a number of interventions which they don’t have a direct water savings impact, but that are vital for the success of any WC/WDM implementation plan: bulk meter installation, system monitoring, NRW reduction team and logging equipment, training and awareness campaigns, etc. The cost for all these interventions for a 5‐year period is estimated as R20 million in total.

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12.3 Detailed Intervention Strategy

12.3.1 System Input Volume

The following activities are recommended for specific interventions concerning the System Input Volumes:

i) All bulk meters at outlets from reservoirs and inlets to supply zones need to be inspected for accuracy or whether they are in working order. In cases where they are missing, they should be installed. ii) All Reservoirs (and Water Treatment Plant and Borehole if they feed reticulation directly) outlet meters and Reservoir levels should be linked to a central control or remote server using GSM – based remote logging to enable daily, weekly, monthly and annual flow profiles/level profiles to be captured and interrogated for use in water balances. Any anomalies should be alarm‐notified to the concerned operatives automatically. iii) A replacement schedule to replace bulk and reservoir meters older than 5 years need to be initiated.

12.3.2 Billed Authorised Consumption

The following activities are recommended for specific interventions concerning the Billed Authorised Consumption:

i) Upgrade the Billing System and Database, ensuring that sufficient responsible personnel are correctly qualified and trained to manage the billing system. ii) Investigate as a matter of urgency the 50 top consumers per Local Municipality and confirm that all connections have a correctly installed flow meter, that the meter is correctly sized for average consumption, that the connection is registered in the billing system and that the meter is read regularly. iii) All existing connections need to be registered in the billing database and bills forwarded regularly. iv) Ensure billing other government departments/municipality votes is conducted efficiently and that the meters are regularly read v) All data from new connections need to be updated in the billing database. vi) Ensure that flow limiters are effective in limiting quotas allocated to individual consumers. vii) Investigate cases of replaced meters still existing in the billing database and clean the same by removal. viii) Investigate all consumers/properties that have zero consumption.

12.3.3 Unbilled Authorised Consumption The following activities are recommended for specific interventions concerning the Unbilled Authorised Consumption:

i) Urgent installation of consumer meters to all unmetered conncetions. ii) Installation of two‐point controllers on all clusters of standpipes. The controllers will reduce pressure in the distribution lines to standpipes at times of minimal usage, and increase this pressure during times of high demand, on a daily basis. iii) All municipal consumptions must be accurately metered and consumption assigned to the relevant votes.

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iv) All unmetered standpipes within each municipality must either be individually metered or clustered, the meters should be regularly read and bills posted to relevant Departments. v) Force internal leak repairs programme for all consumers that either not billed or with a flate rate tariff agreement.

12.3.4 Apparent Losses The following activities are recommended for specific interventions concerning the Apparent Losses:

i) Investigate all properties that have not been registered/legally connected – these are probably illegally connected. If found, legalise connection, install meters and include the consumers in the billing data base. ii) Monitor zone meters frequently to pick illegal connection volumes iii) Conduct a pilot project on consumer meters that are five, 10, 15 years old and older to determine their accuracy levels iv) Preparation of a schedule of replacing all faulty meters

12.3.5 Real Losses The following activities are recommended for specific interventions concerning the Real Losses:

i) Active Leakage Detection

 Inspection (and sounding when needed) of all water mains, reticulations and connections on a twice‐yearly basis initially  Metering of individual pressure zones and online monitoring of the same, with alarm levels pre‐set  Continuous and intermittent night flow analysis  Identification of operation of the systems  Temporary placement of leakage detection equipment and /or loggers  Force repair programme of internal leaks.

ii) Pressure Management

 Conducting extensive pressure logging, monitoring and zoning for the entire UDM  Adoption of new design standards/pressure zones. In this regard, it is recommended that all existing and future supply zones be designed so as not to exceed 50m static pressure  Installation of Advance Pressure Management devices and flow meters on larger PRV’s so that both high peak demand can be accommodated while simultaneously reducing off‐ peak system pressures  A PRV maintenance schedule be created and adhered to.

A summary of the proposed interventions per Local Municipality has been included in Table 36 below. These interventions have been prioritized by the volumetric impact they have on the NRW if implemented. The “% of the intervention completed” has been included due to budget constraints, as some interventions cannot be implemented in fully when taking into account the proposed R107 million.

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Table 36: List of recommended interventions per System – including costs associated

Table 37: UDM NRW reduction interventions summary – strategy and priorities

The areas that should be targeted as HIGH PRIORITY supply areas for NRW Reduction activities are:

 Ladysmith and Steadville  Ezakheni  Estcourt / Wembezi

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The activities that should be prioritized for NRW Reduction are:

12.4 Impact of WC/WDM Intervention on Water Balance Components

The Intervention strategies will have varied effects on the components of the water balances. In the following paragraphs the potential reductions in the Non‐Revenue Water and System Input Volumes shall be presented, as will the potential gains in the Billed Authorised Consumptions.

12.4.1 Real Losses

Any intervention to decrease Real Losses of the entire UDM system will decrease the SIV as well. The current real losses for the entire UThukela DM are 27 548 000 kl/year and the Unavoidable Annual Real Losses are 1 821 000 kl/year. The maximum potential for improvement is calculated as 20 806 000 kl/year.

Through active pressure management together with the implementation of extensive continuous leak detection and repair exercises, and reduction of response times to pipe burst, it is possible to reduce the total real loss volume by 6 743 000 kl/year. This represents a 25% reduction in real losses and has a direct impact on the SIV where a corresponding decrease in volume would be expected. This loss reduction represents an annual saving of R 37 000 000 in bulk water production/purchase costs.

12.4.2 Apparent Losses

The two components of Apparent Losses are Unauthorised Consumption and Meter Inaccuracies.

Implementing a consumer meter installation and registration, in addition to identification of illegal connections throughout the district may reduce the volume by 417 000 kl/year. This represents an annual saving of R 2 300 000 in bulk water production.

12.5 Medium‐Term Target Water Balance and Selected Key Performance Indicators

The individual medium‐term water balances have been attached in Annexure F hereto. The combined projected medium‐term water balance, assuming that all recommended NRW intervention is undertaken with 95% confidence levels is presented in Figure 55: Entire UDM 5‐Year Projected Water Balance with proposed interventions, in comparison with the current entire UDM’s water balance, also with 95% levels grading presented in Figure 51.

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Figure 55: Entire UDM 5‐Year Projected Water Balance with proposed interventions

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The medium‐term key performance indicators after all strategies have been completed within all the different supply systems/schemes are projected to be as indicated in Table 38

Table 38: Comparison of Key Performance Indicators, Current and after the Completion of Intervention Strategies

12.6 Benefits of Non‐Revenue Water Reduction

The comparison between the current water balance and the medium‐term intervention based water balance can be summarised as follows:

 Reduction of Real Losses by 25%  Reduction of Non‐Revenue Water by Volume by 19%  Increase in Billed Authorised Consumption by 77%.

The Figure 56 below presents the comparison between Water Balance Components evolution over the five‐year master plan period, indicating the benefits of NRW reduction.

The Figure 57 below presents the comparison between KPI trends over the five‐year master plan period, indicating the benefits of NRW reduction.

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The Figure 58 below presents the comparison between the ILI evolution over the five‐year master plan period, indicating the benefits of NRW reduction.

Figure 56: Comparison of Selected WB Components with and without Recommended NRW Reduction Intervention

Figure 57: Comparison of Selected NRW KPI’s with and without Recommended NRW Reduction Intervention

Figure 58: Comparison of ILI with and without NRW Reduction Intervention

12.7 Critical Success/Enabling Factors

In order to ensure the success of this WC/WDM Programme and to meet the proposed targets contained in this Master Plan, there are a number of critical success factors. These were identified as being:

 Recognition of NRW reduction as a major focus area of the Water Service Provider and Water Service Authority by all Client Departments, including and especially Finance;

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 Embracing the principles and objectives of Water Conservation/Water Demand Management;

 Securing the requested funding of approximately R130 million over the next five financial years;

 Implementing accepted best practice in all aspects of NRW reduction, including data/information management;

 Focus must be on high impact interventions irrespective of any external (political) influence that could be brought to bear on the proposed roll‐out strategy.

12.8 Overall Economic Analysis

The overall Cost:Benefit ratio for the intervention strategies proposed in the previous sub‐sections is presented in Figure 59 (mains replacement has not been included).

Figure 59: Entire UThukela District Intervention Cost‐Benefit Analysis

The above economic analysis has only taken into account benefits due to System Input Volumes reduction and Billed Metered Consumption increases. It’s important to highlight that even the Cost:Benefit ratio is 1, meaning that this is a profitable investment, NRW reduction is driven by a number of objectives that can not always been financially quantify in an straight forward manner. The need for Water Loss Management can be summarized as follows:

1. Operating cost efficiency: a well maintained system requires fewer repairs; lower production costs and prevents compensation payments; 2. Capital cost efficiency: lack of maintenance and intermittent operation reduces infrastructure life span (pipes, valves, meters, etc.); 3. Increased security of supply: a well maintained system with fewer leaks and bursts will increase supply guarantee; 4. Overcome Water Resource Shortage; 5. Improves consumer’s satisfaction and level of service;

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6. Control NRW Levels, improved metering and billing: fewer leaks and improved supply have positive effects on apparent losses; 7. Reduced health risk; 8. Reduced infrastructure damages; 9. Reduced loads on storm water infrastructure; and 10. Improved public perception and willingness to pay from consumers.

These additional benefits of NRW reduction should be part of a comprehensive analysis done by the Waster Services Authorities when evaluating the proposed strategies.

13 Non‐Revenue Water Reduction Programme

13.1 Non‐Revenue Water Reduction Intervention Work Plan

This Master Plan covers a 5‐year period, so it is envisaged that all the recommendations as proposed in this Master Plan would be implemented within this time frame. However, the roll‐out of the WC/WDM Programme is entirely dependent on the available budget. One of the constraints of preparing this Master Plan was the uncertainty of available budget to determine intervention activities. A total budget of R58 Million was used as an initial assumption to calculate the cost‐benefit ratio for each intervention and subsequently prioritize them.

13.2 Priority Non‐Revenue Water Reduction Interventions

Apart from the uncertainty surrounding available budgets and the subsequent impact on programme, there are some clear interventions that will offer immediate benefit to UDM. In this regard, these should be the main interventions and order of action:

1. Conduct a pro‐active maintenance plan for PRV installations. 2. Identify PRV sites with potential for advanced control pilots. 3. Identify high burst and high real loss areas, and prioritize them to start a full pressure management program. 4. Identify consumers with internal leaks and implement a force repair programme. 5. Investigate Top Consumers per Local Municipality, ensure that connections meters are properly installed, registered in Billing System and meter is read monthly 6. Ensure every standpipe is metered in clusters (at least) and meters read regularly for billing to relevant government/municipality department. 7. Determine number of unmetered connections and install connections and register consumers. 8. Start an active leak detection program.

14 Funding Strategy

14.1 Funding Requirements

The minimum practical achievable NRW by Volume for the entire UDM area of supply has been established as 56.6% ‐ it will become prohibitively expensive and require a disproportionate amount of time, resources and budget to achieve any better target than this. Based on the predictive model that was prepared as part of this investigation, the cost of all interventions required to realize this target has been determined as approximately R130 million when discounted back to NPV.

The interactive spreadsheet calculates both capital funding requirements as well as ongoing annual Operations and Maintenance funding requirements. It must be borne in mind that reaching and

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maintaining NRW targets requires sustained intervention and maintenance, and so allocation of sufficient operational budget must not be forgotten.

14.2 In‐House Resource Development

The funding requirements mentioned in the previous section refer only to the “technical” costs required to achieve the objectives of this Master Plan and exclude the following costs which were deemed to be unquantifiable at this stage:

a) Any organisational costs b) Any costs associated with the communication strategy mentioned later c) Any resource development costs

With reference to the last item, it is imperative that any resource/official that forms part of the NRW Section be actively involved in a comprehensive and sustainable skills development programme. Ideally this should form part of the Workplace Skills Development Plan of UDM. The following activities are therefore recommended for adoption:

 Interactive visits and proactive engagement with other National WSA/WSP’s

 Interaction with international public sector water utilities

 Attendance at relevant training courses as and when held (eg through WISA or WRC)

 Development of a Standards and Procedures Manual that can serve both as a Quality Management System and induction training material

It is recommended that for training sessions and material, and public sector interaction that an annual budget of R500 000 must be put aside for skills development.

15 Resource Management Strategy

15.1 Option 1 – Current Funding Limitations

In the UDM, there is not enough people assigned to plan and implement a full WC/WDM Program.

It is imperative that the profile of NRW is elevated to as senior a level as possible within the Client organization. This will enhance focus on NRW activities from the Technical Services Directorate, without distraction from other initiatives – this is a critical part of the success of the recommendations contained in this Master Plan.

If the current levels of funding remain in effect and are not increased, it is proposed that a training and mentorship programme be adopted and implemented through the programme management phase of the roll‐out of the NRW reduction interventions with the existing resources. With reference to resource development, it is imperative that any resource/official that forms part of the NRW Section be actively involved in a comprehensive and sustainable skills development programme. The following activities are therefore recommended for adoption:

 Interactive visits and proactive engagement with other National WSA/WSP’s  Interaction with international public sector water utilities  Attendance at relevant training courses as and when held (eg through WISA or WRC)

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 Development of a Standards and Procedures Manual that can serve both as a Quality Management System and induction training material  Development of customised accreditation criteria, such as for leak detection, that allows for Client assurance in a quality product  Development of a District Operations and Maintenance Manual

UDM must be acutely aware of the fact that any NRW reduction intervention is not just a “once off” programme that can be left aside once the targets have been achieved. System attrition is a real problem and just as much effort must be focused on sustaining NRW levels as achieving them in the first place. In this regard, it is strongly recommended that UDM invest in resources dedicated to the maintenance of key NRW system components (such as meters and pressure reducing valves) as well as to the monitoring and evaluation of NRW activities.

The detailed breakdown of responsibility and activities for all resources, both public and private sector, need to be included in the Work Plan, the template for which has been included in Annexure G.

15.2 Option 2 – Additional Funding Availability

The requirements for UDM NRW extra staff based on a larger available budget can only be determined once the budget is known. However, some guidelines for staff that would need to be resident inside UDM (excluding administrative support staff) to assist with the successful roll‐out of a large‐scale WC/WDM Programme have been included in Figure 60 (Proposed Simplified Organogram).

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Figure 60: Guideline UDM NRW Human Resource Requirements for Full‐Scale Rollout of WC/WDM Programme (Simplified Organogram)

The guidelines contained in Figure 60 are only guidelines – it is assumed that a full work study would need to be completed prior to any such changes to the current organisational structure taking place. The guidelines do also not take into account that the roll‐out programme may only have duration of five years.

15.3 In‐House Resource Development

With reference to resource development, it is imperative that any resource/official that forms part of the NRW Section be actively involved in a comprehensive and sustainable skills development programme. Ideally this should form part of the Workplace Skills Development Plan of UDM. The recommended activities to be carried out have already been listed in section 15.1.

16 Quality Assurance and Performance Management

Quality Assurance plays an important role in the implementation of any WC/WDM Programme and without a Quality Management System (QMS) in place which is actively monitored by the Client, the desired impact on NRW levels may not be achieved. Quality assurance applies just as much to the Client organisation as it does to any external service provider.

Quality Assurance plays an important part in the Work Plan, which serves as a detailed breakdown of activities, roles and responsibilities; although this can only be addressed with the required attention to detail once the actual work packages have been determined.

However, as mentioned in the previous section, the development of a Standards and Procedures Manual would be an invaluable tool for both UDM NRW Staff, Operations staff and any external service provider.

The introduction of a Quality Management System needs to be underpinned and supported by a Performance Management System. A performance management system is based on the following drivers/indicators, as presented in Figure 61:

‐ Key Result Areas (KRA’s): the ultimate objective or result of the programme. These may be technical (eg targeted level of NRW) or non‐technical (eg verified, skilled personnel or fully implemented records system).

‐ Key Performance Measures (KPM’s): these are manipulations of KPI’s to present some measure of progress or performance.

‐ Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s): these are factual numbers that represent an indicator selected as part of the programme.

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Figure 61: Example Components of a NRW Performance Management System

17 Monitoring and Evaluation

17.1 Monthly Reporting Requirements

As part of the QMS mentioned in the previous section, a fairly rigid monthly reporting system will need to be implemented in order for progress to be recorded. The monthly reports will need to communicate progress to various role players and will need to include the following items:

 Water balances for month and year‐to‐date

 Physical progress on NRW reduction activities

 Progress against targets

 Key Performance Indicators – actual and trend

 Budget and expenditure

 Identification of challenges

 Success stories

 Recommended changes to intervention strategy

A proposed template for the monthly report has been included as Annexure H.

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17.2 Annual Reporting Requirements and Programme Review

In accordance with the National Water Act, an annual water balance is required to be submitted to the Department of Water Affairs. To supplement this water balance or Water Audit Report, it is envisaged that an Annual NRW report will be produced within the framework of this Master Plan and any Work Plan developed arising from this Master Plan. This report would serve both as a factual report of activities carried out within the financial year, provide figures necessary for the Water Audit Report and provide a review of the strategy and programme.

18 Risk Management

The targets mentioned and recommended as part of this Master Plan are subject to a number of risks that may occur outside of the control of the Directorate: Special Projects. The targets stated as part of this Master Plan will only be achieved under ideal conditions and within an enabling framework as discussed earlier.

Annexure I therefore contains a standard risk management schedule that identifies and evaluates any risk associated with the implementation of the recommended NRW reduction activities (likelihood/probability, consequence/impact and ranking), as well as includes a proposed risk mitigation strategy/measures with clearly identified responsibilities.

19 Communication Management

Part of the successful implementation of a WC/WDM Programme would be the implementation of a comprehensive communications strategy that is focused on the following role‐players both inside and outside UDM:  UDM – Area Managers and Operations staff

 UDM – Senior management

 UDM – Exco and Councillors (including various standing committees)

 UDM – Marketing and public relations

 Customers

 Water Service Authorities

A Communications Plan template has been included in Annexure J.

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20 Conclusions and Recommendations

The key conclusions contained in this Master Plan are summarised as follows:

 The Consultant requested the UDM Organogram, but was never provided. It seems that the UDM does not have any Department fully assigned to WC/WDM initiatives.

 The outstanding NRW problematic per local Municipality can be summarize as follows:

 Emnambithi LM: with the exception of Colenso, NRW levels are extremely high mainly due to high leakage volumes. Pressure management and leak detection interventions should be prioritize.

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 Umtshezi and Indaka LM: NRW levels are high mainly due to high leakage levels, but there is a significant portion of commercial losses.

 Imbabazane LM: Extremely high NRW levels are mainly due to commercial losses.

The main recommendations of this Master Plan are the following:

 It is of extreme importance that the internal profile of Non‐Revenue Water reduction and Water Conservation/Water Demand Management is raised to such a level as to demonstrate corporate and Finance Department support and buy‐in. Without this, the success and impact of the entire programme will be compromised.

 The provided WC/WDM Master Plan provided should be used to prioritize interventions according to available budget.

 Investigate Top Consumers per Local Municipality, ensure that connections meters are properly installed, registered in Billing System and the meters are read monthly.

 Appropriate metering, illegal connection and real loss reduction policies need to be developed and implemented.

 The largest impact on NRW volumes is resolving the unregistered consumers in the billing database, unmetered connections, and implementing pressure management.

 Consumers with high internal leak levels should be identify as a matter of urgency and a force repair programme should be immediately implemented.

 New design standards must be formalised and implemented (new pressure regimes, pipe material, etc.), with the most urgent of these being the reduction of maximum operating pressure to 50m.

 Commence and continue an active leak detection program.

 The recommendations as contained in this Master Plan for the roll‐out of the NRW reduction interventions be approved for implementation.

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21 Annexures

The following is a list of annexures to this report:

Annexure A: UDM WC/WDM Strategy Annexure B: System Operational Schematics Annexure C: Billing Data Analysis (FY 2014/2015) Annexure D: System Input Volumes details (FY 2013/2014) Annexure E: Operational Report (example) Annexure F: Water Balances obtained from the predictive model Annexure G: Work Plan template Annexure H: Reporting requirements Annexure I: Risk Management Annexure J: Communication Plan

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