Prepaid Water Meters And South Africa’s Water Crisis

Why prepaid water meters are important for South Africa’s water supply.

Did you know, prepaid water meters can go a long way to alleviating some of the pressure on South Africa’s water supply. In this article, we will cover why prepaid water meters can benefit everyone including consumers, businesses and South Africa as a whole.

South Africa has long been known as a semi-arid country, and as such water management must be a priority.

In recent years South Africa has experienced many issues with water that have led to a crisis. Droughts, increased demand for water and an ageing water management infrastructure have all contributed to the crisis.

South Africa’s Water Crisis

South Africa’s annual average rainfall is around 464 mm. The global average is approximately 860mm. According to the WWF, 98% of South Africa’s water supply is already allocated. This means there is no room for wastage and little to no room for increased demand.

So what can be done to better handle the water crisis?

The best approach is to not rely on anyone approach to save and better utilize our water supply. There are many actions that can be taken to use water more effectively and bring our current water crisis under control.

Prepaid Water Meters and South Africas Water Crisis - JKNV Energy

Here is a list of some of these actions:

Businesses & consumers can manage and control their water consumption better. This is where prepaid water meters can be a great asset.
Better farming practices can be implemented since farming uses a large percentage of the country’s water. Urban vegetable gardens, hydroponics and aquaponics are much more efficient in their use of water to grow produce and water evaporation and wastage can be much better controlled.
Businesses and households can and should implement water recycling as a way to use less water. Greywater systems, rainwater collection and watering gardens in the evening are all methods of reducing water consumption.
Another obvious method is to ensure toilets, taps and water pipes have no leaks. Thousands of leaks can quickly add up to tens of thousands of litres of water lost.
The removal of invasive plant species is also an important task for better water management. Alien plant species are typically more water-hungry than natural species which are hardier. Planting your garden with indigenous plants will not only lower your water bill but also help the country.

What are the Benefits of Using Prepaid Water Meters?

The benefits of installing water meters are fairly simple to understand. The biggest benefit is the fact that once installed you will discover exactly how much water you use.

When you know how much you are using and exactly what it costs you can take steps to manage your usage.

Thus, with greater awareness comes a greater ability to control your water usage. Additionally, once you know how much water you use on average, leaks will not easily go unnoticed as you will be able to see such issues in the spike in water usage.

From a landlord, body corporate and property management point of view, prepaid water meters add up to even greater control, less administration, easier reporting, and better cash flow.

The main benefit of a sub prepaid water meter is that your tenants will have purchased their water before they have used it, and cannot use more than they have purchased. Leaks are quickly and easily detected, as the tenant will see their water consumption suddenly going up. They will take steps to switch off the valve or stopcock until the leak is repaired, and report the same timeously to the landlord. If the unit is empty and there is an undetected leak, the prepaid water meter will switch off the supply to the unit, as there will be no recharge tokens loaded.

Prepaid water meters will not increase the cost of your water as the cost of water is regulated and cannot be sold at a rate greater than the declared municipal tariff rate.

How Do Prepaid Water Meters Work?

Three steps to greater control of your water.

To use a prepaid water meter you need to first select the prepaid water meter that is right for your needs.
Then have your meter/s installed.
Then purchase tokens from one of the many online and retail vendors and enter your token number into your meter.

Now you are all set to see how much water you use and what it costs you each month.

You will also be helping the country and everyone in it, by doing your part to protect our water supply and ensure everyone can benefit from a clean water supply.

Unfortunately, the municipalities and councils are not currently supplying prepaid water meters. The only option is a SUB prepaid water meter, ideal for landlords and property managers that need to meter the tenants in their rental properties, or complexes where there is a bulk meter and the complex needs the individual units to be sub-metered.