Prepaid water meters unconstitutional - High Court judge

A Mail & Guardian Online report notes that Stuart Wilson, spokesperson and researcher for Cals, which is based at the University of the Witwatersrand, said the meters were found to infringe the constitutional rights of people to have access to sufficient water. The court increased the free basic water supply from 25 litres per person per day to 50 litres per person per day in Phiri in Soweto, Wilson said. The City of Johannesburg was further directed to give the residents of Phiri the option of an ordinary credit metered water supply. This judgment is historic because it is the first in which the constitutional right to water is explicitly raised, Wilson says. The application was brought by the Coalition against Water Privatisation on behalf of residents of Phiri, its spokesperson, Patrick Sindane, said. 'We are happy with the just decision, which respected the Constitution and water as a right, and found in favour of the poor,' said Sindane. Full Mail & Guardian Online report