South Africa’s water meters are governed by the Legal Metrology Act 9 of 2014, which is gazetted, binding, and leaves no room for ambiguity. Yet, illegal meters continue to flood tenders and municipal networks, draining billions through non-revenue water. The problem isn’t lack of awareness – it’s lack of enforcement.

Every year, South Africa loses an estimated R7,2 billion to non-revenue water. (NRW). A significant share of this loss comes down to aging infrastructure, non-compliant water meters, and non-compliant specifications, that are wantonly bypassed and accepted by some municipalities and metros.

These devices are not only inaccurate – often underreading and masking real consumption – but also undermine the entire water system. They cannot be repaired, integrated, or trusted. Still, they are being purchased and installed under the noses of regulators, and some councils.

The law is clear. All meters must comply with SANS 1529 under the NRCS (National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications) legal metrology framework. Compliance lists exist on the NRCS and Jaswics databases. The few companies playing by the rules have invested millions to meet these standards. Yet they are being undercut by operators who import cheap, illegal, non-compliant products, sell them out of trading garage companies and even online, while faced with no consequences.

By law, every single domestic water meter must be NRCS-approved, tested in a certified and designated laboratory, be digitally traceable, and have its own unique, serialised test certificate, stating when it was tested, on which test bench, and by which verification officer. These details have to be sent to the authorities on a monthly basis for audit and verification purposes. If rigid standard operating procedures and specifications are not implemented and policed, quality will soon be non-existent, and our appalling level of non-revenue water will simply increase. We cannot afford to waste even one litre of non-revenue water. If the performance of a water meter is questioned by the user, or water authority, it must be possible to trace it back to the supplier, and access the compliance certificate and auditable data. This information must be in place to prove compliance before a meter can legally be sold. Unfortunately, this process is only being implemented by the compliant companies. Costly laboratories and skilled personnel add to legitimate operators’ expenses—costs that illegal traders sidestep to undercut prices in the local market. This is compounded by the dubious materials and practices often used to manufacture non-compliant water meters.

The failure of policing

SALGA and the NRCS have sounded the alarm. They’ve hosted seminars. They’ve explained the law. But what good is awareness if nothing is enforced? What is the value of gazetted legislation if it is treated as optional, buried in red tape, and lost in finger-pointing, with no real accountability?

The truth is this: Compliance is being carried out only by those willing to absorb crippling costs, while others exploit loopholes, corruption, and weak policing. Some municipal tenders list illegal devices, approvals get rubber-stamped, and compliant companies are left to compete with non-compliant traders, masquerading as suppliers.

To enforce compliance, the few legitimate companies are dragged into slow, costly legal battles against non-compliant suppliers, metros, and councils. Adding insult, metros fund their defence with ratepayers’ money. Meanwhile, rogue traders exploit loopholes and weak policing. This is unsustainable.

Compliance in question

Water meters fall under the NRCS legal metrology framework and must comply with SANS 1529. But critical questions remain unanswered: when were all the so-called ‘compliant’ companies last tested independently against SANS 1529? Who actually complies today? Where are the checks and balances to ensure only legitimate and compliant companies are legally permitted to trade?

Legitimate companies have willingly opened their doors for audits and inspections, but lack of access to test procedures, audit records, and procedures from illegal operators and traders carries on relentlessly. This lack of transparency means the industry cannot verify compliance across the board. Unless the system is fully integrated, transparent, independently monitored and audited, true compliance will remain in doubt. The excuses of budget and manpower restraints by government simply encourages illegal, non-conforming operators to continue to exploit the loopholes, and profit accordingly.

Local industry under siege

The South African Metering Industry Association (SAMIA) fought to localise production – winning a 2017 policy target of 40% residential meters produced locally. The goal was to encourage local manufacturing, create jobs, strengthen accountability, and keep compliance under control. This has been challenged, and has simply opened the doors to many cheap imported meters from China, as compliance, although a pre-requisite, is being ignored, or bypassed.

But how can local industry survive when illegal, non-conforming imports are traded, and allowed to slip in unchecked? Why invest millions in SABS-certified test equipment, SANAS-accredited labs, management, and employee training, when rogue operators face no audits, no prosecutions, and no consequences? It is no wonder that some major corporations are threatening to close their meter divisions altogether. Once the legal metrology framework collapses, our water industry and support infrastructure will finally implode. Next to rates, taxes, and electricity, water is the biggest income for councils, and should non-complaint companies continue to trade, this will have dire consequences for the fiscus.

The way forward

This is not a technical debate. It is a matter of law. The Legal Metrology Act is gazetted. Section 17 and SANS 1529 spell out municipal responsibility. Certificates of conformity must be checked. Non-compliant devices are illegal and may not be sold or used.

The solution is simple: Enforce the laws, prosecute the offenders, and hold municipalities accountable for knowingly installing illegal meters. Without swift, visible action, our already fragile water and sewerage systems will edge closer to collapse.

The message is clear: compliance is non-negotiable. South Africa doesn’t need more meetings, seminars, databases, or polite reminders. It must enforce gazetted laws that are policed, and offenders prosecuted. Until illegal, non-conforming operators are shut down and municipalities are forced to comply, the country will continue to haemorrhage billions, the water infrastructure will collapse – and local manufacturers will either close, or disinvest, causing job losses. Then the illegal, non-conforming operators and traders will prosper at the expense of every water user, as well as local industry and the South African economy.

By Bevan Davis, MD, Conver-Tek and Davis & Deale