What urgent steps has his department taken to address the (a) funding challenges and (b) cost overruns faced by the Umzimvubu Water Project, particularly in light of the significant budget discrepancies reported for the (i) Ntabelanga and (ii) Laleni Dams?
a) The Department of Water and Sanitation has taken the following steps to address the funding challenges related to the Umzimvubu Water Project:
- Through its Water Resource Development Planning unit, the Department has undertaken a project reconfiguration which resulted in a saving of 45% on the project.
- The reconfiguration included:
- Using existing water services infrastructure rather than building new water services infrastructure
- Deferring Lalini Dam ...
Whether his department has approached the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) to request assistance with the monitoring and evaluation of water and sanitation across the water value chain of the Republic since the DPME has expertise in monitoring and evaluation processes; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
The Department has not approached the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) to request assistance with the monitoring and evaluation of water and sanitation across the water value chain.
Although the DPME has monitoring and evaluation expertise, it does not have technical and human capacity to monitor and evaluate the water and sanitation value chain. To monitor and evaluate the water and sanitation ...
With reference to the significant public health risks associated with the poor state of some of the wastewater treatment works, what specific measures has his department taken to prevent public health risks, such as the Bloemhof tragedy, from occurring in the future?
MINISTER OF WATER AND SANITATION
Raw water is drawn from rivers and dams and treated in Water Treatment Works; the treated water is required by law to meet drinking water standards set by the South African Bureau of Standards in South African National Standard (SANS) 241. Municipalities and water boards are also required to conduct regular tests on the treated water to ensure that ...
Whether his department intends to take immediate and robust measures to assist with sustainable and uninterrupted water supply to the residents of Polokwane, who have had challenges to access basic water services; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
MINISTER OF WATER AND SANITATION
The Polokwane Local Municipality (LM) receives daily water supply from the Ebenezer Water Treatment Works (WTW), Olifantspoort WTW and Dalmada WTW. The Ebenezer and Olifantspoort WTWs are operated by Lepelle Northern Water (LNW) while Dalmada WTW is operated by the municipality. The Polokwane LM is also operating about 53 boreholes around Polokwane City and Seshego to augment the water ...
Whether he has been informed that residents of Mamelodi in Tshwane, have not had access to water for three days, with no warning and/or provisions made following the water cut; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details?
The City of Tshwane issued a media alert on 3rd November 2023 regarding the unplanned water supply interruptions that effected Mamelodi amongst other areas nearby.
The City of Tshwane’s Water and Sanitation Department Team of plumbers attended to a major leak on the bulk pipeline which supplies Mamelodi R3 and R4 Reservoirs. During repairs, water tankers were arranged to service customers in the affected ...
(1)In light of the fact that water safety plans require municipalities to be measured on their compliance with microbiological and chemical content regulations, which municipalities did not comply with the prescribed (a) biological and (b) chemical regulations in the past three financial years;
(2) whether his department has put in place (a) funds and (b) plans to address the matter; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
(1) Risk management processes to manage water supply systems effectively were introduced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2004 and described as Water Safety Planning. A Water Safety Plan is a plan to ensure the safety of drinking water through the use of a comprehensive risk assessment and risk management approach that encompasses all steps in water supply from catchment to consumer.
In ...
Whether (a) he, (b) the Deputy Minister and (c) any other official in his department attended the Rugby World Cup final in France in October 2023; if not; what is the position in this regard; if so, what (i) are the relevant details of each person in his department who attended the Rugby World Cup, (ii) is the total number of such persons and (iii) were the total costs of (aa) travel, (bb) accommodation and (cc) any other related costs that were incurred by his department as a result of the trip(s)?
There were no costs nor other related costs that were incurred by the department in relation to the Rugby World Cup final in France.
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(1)What is the total number of court cases in which his department is a (a) plaintiff and (b) defendant in each province from 2019 until the latest specified date for which information is available;
(2) what total amount has his department spent on the specified litigious efforts in the specified period?
1. The table below summarises the number of matters per year, per province over the 2019 – 2023 period, wherein the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) was a Plaintiff or a Defendant:
|
PROVINCE
|
DWS AS PLAINTIFF
|
DWS AS DEFENDANT
|
2019
|
2020
|
2021
|
2022
|
2023
|
|
Gauteng
|
4
|
18
|
7
|
1
|
3
|
5
|
2
|
|
Limpopo
|
-
|
3
|
-
|
1
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
Mpumalanga
|
-
|
3 ... |
(1)Whether, with reference to the two wash plants dams in the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality (details furnished) that are not operational, leading to the polluted water of the wash plants to regularly flow into the freshwater stream and then into the Klein Olifants River, the Groot Olifants River and finally into the Loskop dam (details furnished), she intends to investigate the reasons that the (a) polluted coal water of the two specified wash plants is flowing twice a day at 10:00 and 16:00 into the fresh water of the Spookspruit which flows into the Klein Olifants River, the Groot Olifants River and ends up in Loskopdam and (b) wash plants use a truck 13 times a day to fetch 18 000 litres of water per take, from the freshwater stream to wash the coal; if not, why not in each case; if so, what are the relevant details in this regard;
(2) whether he will furnish Ms A M M Weber with the water user licence for both wash plants (details furnished); if not, why not; if so, on what date?
1. Beethoven Investments has two wash plant dams that are not currently operational. The polluted water from the wash plant runs regularly into the “spook spruit” freshwater stream and then flows into the Klein Olifants River, the Groot Olifants River and finally into the Loskop dam. This is in contravention of Section 151 of the National Water Act in relation to polluting or causing ...
With reference to sewage spewing down the streets and at times into people’s homes (details furnished) and given the Green Drop Report which found 334 Wastewater Treatment works were in critical condition and consequently now subject to legal proceedings, what are the reasons his department only opened seven cases from the 334 identified?
The Green Drop report found 334 wastewater systems, belonging to 90 municipalities to be in a critical state of performance. It is important to note that where the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) approaches the Prosecuting Authority for criminal cases or Court for civil relief it is done on an entity or in this case a municipal basis. Reporting on criminal and civil ...
