Tertius Thiart, Flamingo Vlei
Hans Smit is not the only one who has such problems with council (“Measuring high water bill in soft drink cans”, Off My Trolley, November 21).
I recall there were two other people with the same problem.
I have a water bill + sewerage + tax for
R35 0034.92 for the period middle of February 2018 to middle March 2018.
I bluntly refuse to pay it because it is absolutely impossible.
I have never had such a high bill for water since I bought my townhouse in 1989 (with the former Milnerton Municipality).
Many years ago I changed my small garden to make it
even smaller. Most
of the garden is now under concrete and tiles.
I have always been a person who saves water. My record can testify that. I save the washing machine water and shower water to use for toilet and plants.
There cannot be a leak, as it would have appeared again.
Council send me snotty letters demanding payment, and then I decided to hand the case over to my attorney.
Council say I must have the water meter checked.
I will not as the meter is not my property, and very unconstitutionally some council by-law makes the water bill the responsibility of the user/ taxpayer if there is a problem. Not acceptable.
Furthermore, council tests it – meaning not a non-independent expert in the field, and I, as taxpayer must pay for it. No way.
In one of the last letters I responded to council’s demands, I said they must please work through my attorney. Their response: Council doesn’t work through third parties. My response: Well it is strange because council replied to my attorney several times and even spoke to him more than once. After that I have not heard a word from them.
Maryrose van Rensburg, Cape Town
If a dripping tap fills a 340ml soft drink can in one minute, then in an hour it will produce 340 x 60 = 20 400 ml. And in a day 20 400 x 24 = 489 600 ml. In a
month 489 600 x 30 = 14 688 000 ml. Which is 14 688 litres = 14.688 kl. Mayco member for water and waste, Xanthea Limberg’s example is correct.
When your reader’s consumption went up by an extra 60kl a month, the extra usage would have filled about 4 x 340 ml soft drink cans a minute. That’s a soft drink can per minute for each of the bath, garden tap, toilet and shower. This isn’t as far-fetched as it first sounded, though I don’t dispute his version of the situation.
A drip would have to be very fast and very noticeable to fill a soft drink can in a min-
ute.