Prepaid water for Blikkiesdorp

Prepaid water for BlikkiesdorpInformal residents can install their own toilets Residents who want their own taps in their yards should open municipal accounts and apply for water meters. KENYA KAMBOWE





The Grootfontein municipality plans to install prepaid water meters in one of the town’s largest informal settlements, known as Blikkiesdorp.

This is after some Blikkiesdorp residents demanded their own water and sewerage connections on their plots.

At the moment the council provides the thousands of residents of Blikkiesdorp with free water from communal standpipes.

The residents make use of public toilets that serve thousands of people. It is not safe for girls and women to use these toilets after dark, and some attempted rapes have been reported.

Some residents have made illegal water connections from the communal pipes to their plots.

Municipal spokesperson Luke Salomo says the council plans to provide Blikkiesdorp residents with prepaid water meters soon.

“The council is not a charity institution. The best we can do is to strive to recover the cost the council will be investing to bring clean drinking water to the community of Blikkiesdorp,” he said.

Salomo said providing free water to residents was becoming a burden to the council although Grootfontein has its own boreholes.

“Since Blikkiesdorp is an informal area, the council will have to formalise the area in order to issue private water taps to individuals,” Salomo said.

“Currently the water supply within Blikkiesdorp is free, something that the council can no longer afford.”

He said residents who wanted their own taps in their yards should open municipal accounts and apply for water meters.

Salomo added that the council had decided to allow Blikkiesdorp residents to install their own toilets as a safety precaution.

“Regarding the sanitation within Blikkiesdorp, the members of the community need to visit our offices to apply to build their own toilets within their yards,” Salomo said.

“The council takes the issue of sanitation very seriously, which is why the council took the bold decision to allow the community of Blikkiesdorp to construct their own toilets.”