Compendium of water conservation and water demand management : interventions and measures at the municipal level in South Africa

The need for demand-side interventions that effectively reduce physical losses in water networks, artificial demand at the end-user level created through leakage, as well as apparent losses due to metering and billing deficiencies is abundantly clear. In response to this need, municipalities across the country have initiated interventions, programmes and projects to reduce the demand for water with varying levels of success. Aimed at identifying, documenting and disseminating the experiences of municipalities in water demand management, the Water Research Commission directed the development of the Compendium of Case Studies relating to Water Demand Management at the municipal level in South Africa, presenting 40 case studies in an anecdotal easy-to-read format. The presented case studies highlight not only best practise in the industry, but also less effective approaches that can potentially achieve greater effectiveness through improved management and implementation. It is the hope of the research that technical, financial and managerial officials of municipalities, as well as councillors, community leaders and communities themselves, will use this compendium as a tool to identify, conceptualize, formulate and implement initiatives based on case studies presented, that effectively address water demand and reduce water wastage. [authors abstract]