By Virginia Njovo
City of Masvingo has started prepaid water meter pilot project starting with twenty properties in Eastvale suburb on October 14.
In an interview with TellZim News, Masvingo City Public Relations Officer (PRO) Ashleigh Jinjika said that prepaid water meters aim to create culture of water conservation, reduce water wasting and promote financial sustainability.
“Consumers can now have control over usage as well as cost savings where there will be water conservation and reduced energy.
“Council’s primary motive behind installing prepaid water meters include reducing water losses since we will be able to measure the amount of water consumed by ratepayers as well as lost water deducted from the released amount of water,” said Jinjika.
Residents of Masvingo City raised concern over insufficient water supply with high bills which they saw as unfair to them, which inspired the introduction of prepaid water meters as an alternative.
Masvingo Residents and Ratepayers Alliance Spokesperson Godfrey Mutimba however said prepaid water meters will never be a solution to water shortages.
“Prepaid water meters will never be the solution to water shortages; the problem is with the pumping capacity per day to meet the demand from the growing population. Good example is we have ZESA prepaid meters but there is no electricity,” said Mutimba.
In Bulawayo Council faced resistance from ratepayers from installing smart meters amid indications that they were very expensive to install and maintain.
Media reports in July this year indicated that Bulawayo deputy mayor Edwin Ndlovu proposed the adoption of smart water meters following complaints from consumers about high water bills.
Chivhu is among areas where Zimbabwe National Authority (ZINWA) installed smart meters from 2021 and up to now the parastatal has installed 31 000 prepaid meters nation-wide.
