Keetmanshoop Municipality explains high water bills

KEETMANSHOOP, 25 Apr – The Keetmanshoop Municipality was confronted about abnormally high water bills in recent months by residents of the Westdene residential area in a public meeting here on Monday.
The municipality said the aim of the meeting was for residents to raise their concerns for the municipality to address these concerns.
Some of the 20-odd people who attended the Westdene meeting complained that water bills from November last year until January this year were low, but the water bills for February were almost double the amount paid in previous months.
This was a big concern to them as some had to raise a large amount of money, up to N.dollars 9 000, to pay their February water bills.
In some instances, the water of those who could not pay the exorbitant bills was disconnected immediately, the meeting heard.
Keetmanshoop Municipality public relations officer Dawn Kruger told the residents the reason why water bills were low from November to January was because there was a lack of manpower.
The local authority did not have enough water meter readers. Out of the five they had, one resigned and one was on leave, so there were only three to read meters.
“Keetmanshoop is a big town and the water meter readers could not complete the reading in time, so the water bills were estimated,” she said.
It however turned out that the estimations were very low and that is what caused the confusion.
In February this year, the water meter readers did their work and the actual water bills were higher than the estimated amounts, which means the municipality lost a huge amount of money between November last year and January this year.
The residents, amongst others, further complained about high rates for electricity compared to other towns; noise pollution from the stadium and by other residents; and how the municipality handles tenders in terms of who they are awarded to, as they believe favouritism is practised.
(NAMPA)