Water PNG finds 247 illegal users

By EREBIRI ZURENUOC
A HIGH number of households in the West Taraka area of Lae urban local level government have illegal water connections, an official has confirmed.
Water PNG manager customer success Herman Kagl told The National yesterday that only 300 customers were registered in the area.
“Our records have shown that only 53 are active customers while 247 of them are on illegal connections,” he said.
“The 53 are customers who have a meter connected to their house and they are using the water supply.
“The others, we disconnected the meter, and they have outstanding payments, and therefore are resorting to illegal connections.
He said an awareness was carried out in the area two weeks ago, and some of the findings were alarming.
“There is a lot to do,” Kagl said.
“The main pipe (trunk) between the water tank and the treatment tank was broken and water is pouring out 24/7, therefore water pressure to areas higher up is low.
“We do not supply water from the main trunka but through 50 and 100ml pipes which are connected to the main trunk. However, some of the residents made outlets straight from the trunk, and that’s where most of the pressure is released.
“The residents know what they are doing is wrong, and our main message is that the community must come and work with us, and we are encouraging them to do so.”
Kagl revealed that the current closure of the Gantom Primary School was because of that.
“Water pressure to the school is very low, and we want to address the root cause which is the illegal connections,” he said.
“We want to start fresh with our customers, we want the community to come out and help us so that we can identify all the leakages and fix them.
“Our aim now is to send water to the schools and police stations in that area so that they can serve the communities,” Kagl said.