BWB: Poor meter reading, water scarcity can be solved

The prevailing situation in Blantyre is that various townships are once again going days on end without potable water. I can only guess that this is due to current power woes that are forcing Blantyre Water Board (BWB) to ration water or is it possibly due to insufficient water in the Shire River?

Anyway, the issue here is that solving water challenges should be a priority for any right-thinking leader at national level or a manager at a water board.

Currently, when households go for days without water people get nervous because experience shows that water providers care very little about consumers. You just have to read the statements they issue in the press to see the impunity they exude.

Water which is supposed to be affordable is also heavily taxed.

Word on the street is that water boards and government should channel at least part of the newly-introduced value added tax (VAT) to invest in water projects so that the majority of Malawians have access to clean water.

But let me not digress because what is worrying for most consumers, apart from the dry taps, is that they are being subjected to the most inefficient billing system.

Lately, BWB has been dishing out to consumers the most ridiculous water bills.

Whoever recruits meter readers at BWB faces a huge task to fire them because they are the most incompetent meter readers. In fact, they are embarrassing BWB.

I will share an experience a colleague of mine who resides in a highly populated Chilobwe Township in Blantyre went through two months ago.

He got the shock of his life when he was billed K95 000, yet his water bill averages around K4 500 a month. Was he illegally accessing water or was there a leak around his compound? No, he is an honest consumer who pays his water bills on time.

Before he could find out why he was billed that much, his water was disconnected a few days later. After countless visits to BWB offices at Chichiri Shopping Mall, the anomaly is yet to be corrected. He was, however, relieved when he was assured that the meter reader must have erred in taking the readings and they would ‘look into the problem’.

I can bet, my colleague is not alone in this predicament. There are many more cases out there of BWB consumers who have been billed for water they did not consume.

What BWB must understand is that we are partners in this whole set-up. We have no other option but consume their water and there are no any other customers apart from us, Blantyre residents.  So water is not something we consumers can import from foreign sources or BWB can play with. Bill us correctly and we will pay you on time.

It is, therefore, encouraging that BWB is trying to make things work. Their investment of K17 billion in Likhubula project and on the spot billing system speaks volumes that it’s no longer business as usual at the water provider.

However, word on the street is that it should not take ages for all these things to get fixed because the country is in dire need of services that are efficient and serve the general public well.

The poor meter reading and water scarcity can be solved once and for all.