Nearly half of water supplied to Maputo lost due to leakages and obsolete network

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Nearly half of water supplied to Maputo lost due to leakages and obsolete network

11:50 CAT | 10 Oct 2022

Photo: O País

Nearly 50 per cent of piped water supplied to the Mozambican capital Maputo is lost due to extensive leakages, according to the company Águas da Região Metropolitana de Maputo reports the online version of the independent daily “O Pais”.

The losses are estimated at 26 million cubic metres of water per year due to water leaks, almost half the amount produced to supply the capital Maputo.

“In general, we have losses of around 47 per cent. We’re talking about 26 million cubic metres of water per year, of which 25 per cent are physical losses, part of which are leaks,” explained the director of the Accelerated and Integrated Loss Reduction Programme (PAIRP) of the company Águas da Região de Maputo, Joaquim Bié.

This volume could supply thousands of families now depraved of potable water. The leaks also cause other problems by reducing the distribution hours.

Bié explained that one of the causes of water loss is the sorry state of network itself, which is obsolete and needs to be replaced.

“The Maputo system is too old. We inherited it from colonial era and we have a very old network structure, which needs to be replaced.”

He also complained about other issues such as erosion, which leave the network exposed to the elements and human action.

Illegal connections worsen the situation. On average, 50 illegal water connections are found every day.

The residents acknowledge the efforts made by Águas da Região Metropolitana de Maputo to solve the problem, but they demand a lasting solution.

“This street is a main street. They should pay attention and come and fix it. The funeral home cars suffer. Once, mourners had to carry the coffin over a distance of about 500 meters, because water prevented the passage of cars,” said a resident.

There is in the city of Maputo about 800 km of water supply network. In 2020, through the PAIRP, the company said that it intended to replace half of the network by the end of 2024, but so far only 200 km have been replaced.

The solution to stop the waste of ater would be the replacement of the entire water distribution network. The PAIRP is budgeted at about 90 million dollars. This is the sum that Águas da Região Metropolitana de Maputo is yet to mobilise.

“So far the company has managed to invest about 8 million US dollars using its own funds. We are now working to mobilize funding to cover our needs”, said Bié.

In the meantime, drinking water which could be supplied to many people is wasted, with millions of Mozambicans without access to drink.

In many Maputo neighbourhoods scenes of running water have become common feature. In others, leaking pipes create stagnant water, which end up being mixed with rainwater. The Luís Cabral neighbourhood is a clear example of this. Water is running down almost every street.

One of the streets leads to Odete Amade’s house. The water formed a pool which blocked access to her home. Now the over-60-year-old grand-mother is forced to use a much longer path to reach her home.

“This path I no longer use. I use another one to get away from this water, which is already more than five years old. This water runs you there, further down, where some houses have collapsed due to the water”, Odete Amade said.

Another resident, Filipe Moisés, explains that the exposure of the pipes leads to their degradation.

“The passing cars step on them”, worsening the problem.”

Source: AIM