The municipality has been inundated with requests for tanker services every time when there were periods of high rainfall in the whole of the municipal area. It was assumed, and now backed up by actual evidence, that these requests were as a result of either leaking/non-watertight tanks, or that some residents dispose of their on-site storm water into the sewer tanks. The situation has become so bad that in the most extreme cases up to 90 requests have been received from one resident over a three-month period. As can be imagined, this has put this particular resource under extreme pressure.
The tariff policy of the municipality allows for the following:
“9.5.6(ii) In case of conservancy tanks or septic tanks, the municipality reserves the right to change the tariff option should it become apparent that the sewer consumption is more than the water consumption for more than two consecutive months.”
Sewer consumption tariffs are based on 70% of water consumption on a particular erf. For example, should your water consumption be 10 kl for the month, the sewer consumption is 7 kl and the resident will be charged the sewer tariff per kiloliter. This tariff is currently R19,19/kl for the 2023/24 financial year. In the above example the cost would then be R139,30, plus the basic charge of R169,51. Total cost for sewer function per month in the above example would be R308,81. Up to now the cost has stayed the same for a resident with similar water consumption, regardless of how many times there were requests for tanker services. If one takes into consideration that the size of most tanks is, on average, 6 000 litres/6kl, then with the above example in mind, the tank should have been emptied twice in a month, at most. As already stated above, the opposite is true.
This is an unacceptable situation, as the costs for providing the additional tanker services are not recovered. Thus, Council is considering the right to change the tariff option for conservancy/septic tanks in cases where the sewer consumption is more than the water consumption.
This would mean that should your sewer consumption be more than your water consumption, for more than two consecutive months, the basic monthly charge of R114,22, plus R779,03 per tanker service request would be payable. The consequence of this would be that sewer charges on the individual account, where sewer consumption is 70% more than water consumption, will increase significantly, depending on the number of times a tanker service is requested.
Please accept herewith notice that the water consumption for November 2023 and December 2023 will be used to determine the sewer consumption over the same period. Should it be found that the sewer consumption (determined by the number of tanker requests, multiplied by the capacity of the conservancy/septic tank) is more than 70% of the water consumption, the tariff option of the relevant consumer will be changed and charged for payment in January 2024.
Residents are once again reminded that as from the date of this notice, no pre-booking of tanker services at a specific date and time, on a regular basis, will be allowed.
Residents must also ensure that their tanks are watertight, to limit the ingress and contamination of groundwater and not to relay roof and storm water on their erven into the tanks.
