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EdTM Enquiries: T Mbassa
Telephone: 012Â 336 8724
Reference: 6/2/2/6
MINISTER OF WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY: QUESTION 2356 FOR WRITTEN REPLY
A draft reply to the above mentioned question asked by Ms B D Ferguson
(Cope) is attached for your consideration.
DIRECTOR-GENERAL (Acting)
DATE:
DRAFT REPLY APPROVED/AMENDED
MRS B E E MOLEWA, MP
MINISTER OF WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS
DATE:
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO 2356
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 16 SEPTEMBER 2013
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 30)
2356. Ms B D Ferguson (Cope) to ask the Minister of Water and Environmental
Affairs:
Whether, with reference to the findings of the General Household
Survey, July 2011, she has taken any action regarding the residents
of (a) the Eastern Cape, (b) KwaZulu-Natal and (c) Mpumalanga who
have consistently not been satisfied with the quality of their water;
if not, why not; if so, what action?
NW2848E
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REPLY:
(1) Yes, there is action taken in response to the findings of the General
Household Survey of 2011 regarding the complaints of residents of the
three Provinces about the quality of water. The actions in the
respective Provinces are as follows:
(a) Blue Drop Program and Blue Water Audits
The Department of Water Affairs (DWA) in the Eastern Cape Region
ensures that all the Eastern Cape Municipalities that are Water
Services Authorities (WSAâs) participate in the Blue Drop System
(BDS), the Annual Blue Water Service Audit and Regulatory Performance
Measurement System (RPMS) to ensure progressive improvement in quality
of water services. The Blue Drop Programme, which is an incentive-
based regulatory programme, requires regular monitoring of each water
distribution system, comparison of results against South African
National Standards and monthly capturing of drinking water quality
results on the BDS. This allows DWA to monitor the quality of Water
Services across the Eastern Cape Province and allows corrective
actions to be taken as soon as any nonâcompliance or poor performance
is found. The Municipalities that are battling are supported by DWA
through various programmes such as Rapid Response Unit, Municipal
Water Infrastructure Grant (MWIG), Operations & Maintenance Business
Plans. Below are the details of these programmes:
Develop Operation and Maintenance Business Plan
The DWA in the Eastern Cape Region realises that the WSAâs normally do
not plan the operation and maintenance of their water infrastructure
but perform it on an adhoc basis. This leads to infrastructure
dilapidating and bad water quality. The DWA developed guidelines for
the development of Operation and Maintenance Business Plans during
August 2010. The guidelines were circulated to all WSAâs in the
Eastern Cape Province and offered support to develop them. The WSAâs
are now aware of the importance of developing Operation and
Maintenance Business Plans.
Establishment of Rapid Response Unit
The Rapid Response Unit was established during July 2011 so as the DWA
could offer a more hands-on assistance to the Local Government. This
unit enables the DWA to respond to crises and disasters and to
implement proactive interventions aimed at pre-empting crises before
they occur. The DWA targeted all WSAâs with low Blue and Green Drop
scores for pro-active interventions.
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(b) In KwaZulu-Natal, the proportion of householders complaining about
the safety of water has improved from 12,9% in 2005 to 7,7% in 2011.
This improvement is also reflected in the performance of the KwaZulu-
Natal Water Services Authorities in the Blue Drop incentive-based
regulatory programme in 2009. Provincial Blue Drop scores have shown a
steady improvement with every assessment with provincial average
scores improving from 73% in 2009, 80.49% in 2011 and 92.1% in 2012.
Community complaints regarding the quality of drinking water have
been received from the Empembeni community in the Hlabisa Local
Municipality (LM), and Weston in the Mpofana LM. The DWA has
intervened in these areas and appropriate treatment systems were
commissioned in 2012.
(c) In Mpumalanga Province, the Mpumalanga Regional Officeâs Compliance,
Monitoring and Enforcement Sub-directorate is monitoring the final
water from the Water Treatment Works up to the furthest point of use.
Monitoring is conducted on a monthly basis.
When the results of samples taken do not comply with the SANS 241, a
non-compliance notice is issued to the municipality indicating that
the water supplied to the community does not meet the required
standard. The municipality is also requested to submit an action plan
with time frames indicating how they are going to ensure that they
supply good quality drinking water to the community.
DWA has developed a website whereby people can log on and check the
quality of water in their respective areas.
The Mpumalanga Regional Office is also monitoring the Water Services
Authorities in terms of the submission of drinking water quality
results in the blue drop system, which feeds the information to the
mywater website.
Provincial Blue Drop scores improved from 51% in 2009 to 60.9% in
2012. It is also noted that in 2010 compliance was at 65.42%, which is
considered to have been the best score in compliance, however, over
the past two years additional criterion/variables were added which may
be the reason why the blue drop compliance scores seems to have
declined when comparing them to those of 2011 and 2012. The new
criteria that was introduced in the past two years includes, but is
not limited to water safety planning, Water Conservation and Water
Demand Management.
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