The Rundu Town Council has temporarily suspended new water connections in all unsurveyed areas at the town until further notice.

Chief Executive Officer Olavi Nathanael said this in a statement issued here on Tuesday.

“This decision was merely taken to allow more time for the water maintenance staff members to work on certain areas, such as those with water leakages, and to boost water supply to various residential areas with low water pressure,” he said.

Some water pipes are clogged or leaking, disrupting water flow to certain residential areas.

The water maintenance department also has to attend to the suspension of water to default customers.

“They have to take stock of all new connected water meters that are registered in the council’s database,” he stated.

Nathanael further urged residents who have water meters that are not registered in their database, to provide their meter numbers and readings, along with a receipt in order for them to be registered.

He said failure to comply with this will be regarded as an illegal connection.

The Rundu Town Council which has been struggling to supply water to the town since last month as it currently owes NamWater N.dollars 124 million.

Residents owe the council close to N.dollars 300 million in overdue municipal bills, which has negatively affected the implementation of some of its developmental services or projects.

Council was placed on a prepaid credit system by the water utility after it was removed from the conventional water supply system after the town had accumulated debt of close to N.dollars 60 million in 2018.

“Of the 15 000 water accounts on the town’s database, only 5 000 are paid up accounts,” Nathanael said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency