Chairperson, Madam Minister and hon guests, good morning. Accessibility to water is and always will be one of the commodities in our daily lives that is most important. The Hotspots Report issued by the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs in February 2013 will verify this as access to water is critical, not only for our existence, but also for economic growth, food, energy, security and mining, amongst others.
Service delivery protests are on the rise and crisis management cannot be the order of the day any longer. I urge the Minister to ensure that proactive interventions replace reactive ones in order to eradicate the backlogs in and improve the living standards of our citizens.
Gaining Blue Drop certification is an indication that a stringent set of chemical, biological and other requirements has been complied with. In the Eastern Cape a percentage as low as 5,9% for water quality was indicated, whilst the 2012 Blue Drop performance sees the DA-run Western Cape with a score of 94,2%.
The 2012 Blue Drop report shows four DA-run municipalities in the top 10, namely City of Cape Town, Bitou, Witzenberg and George. In total, there are 8 in the top 20, including Overstrand, Drakenstein, Mossel Bay and Saldanha. Where the DA governs, it is progressively delivering access to water. We want to do this around the country, too. South Africa has been categorised as the 30th driest country worldwide, posing a possible water crisis in the next decade if urgent steps are not taken.
The allocation of R38 billion over the next three financial years is a very welcome intervention to address water infrastructure and its implementation and support. Estimates show that in order to maintain and expand our water infrastructure, R570 billion will be needed over the next 10 years. The government's National Development Plan highlighted water security as one of the challenges. The R12 billion second phase of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project was approved in principle last week, which is sharply higher than the estimated R9 billion. The project is to be completed by 2020 to secure an additional water supply from Lesotho to Lephalale and Steelpoort.
As we are debating here today, in some areas globally demands already outstrip the supply, which in the next 10 to 20 years will continue to grow, leading to critical situations. The latest review of our water sector by Engineering News indicates that if no urgent action is taken, South Africa will experience a 17% gap between water demand and supply by 2030, equating to a water shortfall of 2,7 billion cubic litres.
Whilst we have met Millennium Development Goal No 7 well ahead of time by halving the number of people who do not have access to safe drinking water, the 100% target to address and resolve the backlogs by 2014 will not be achieved due to two factors, namely the reliability of data and urban sprawl for which no additional funding was made available by the National Treasury.
The 2011 Census figures show that between 2001 and 2011 the water provision backlog saw the biggest percentage point reduction in rural areas, a reduction of 21%, but the backlog is still at a staggering 41%. Rural areas continue to bear the brunt of the lack of delivery. The United Nations World Water Development Report in 2012 ranked South Africa 148th out of 180 countries for water availability per capita.
The department needs to look very seriously into the maintenance and upkeep as well as the sustainability of the infrastructure. With the introduction of the municipal water infrastructure grant of some R603 million in 2013- 14, the department has its work cut out to ensure that this is not wasted yet again on a system that will be obsolete and nonfunctional within a short space of time owing to the shoddy and inferior workmanship that we have experienced in the past. The department must ensure that this water scheme is maintained and operated effectively.
Municipalities, in conjunction with water boards, are responsible for the provision of quality water, but they fail dismally owing to lack of skills and maintenance, and the fact that the equitable share is not used for what it is intended. Equitable share must become a conditional grant and municipalities must account for it accordingly.
The new equitable share formula applies to households earning less than R2 300 per month. The R275 per household includes R87 for water, of which 10% is included for maintenance, and R72 for sanitation. Who will monitor that this breakdown is spent correctly?
The City of Cape Town, together with the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs, has taken the lead in addressing the problem of water losses through a new real time web-based information system that gives easy access to all relevant information for managing, operating and optimising the city's water supply resources. This should be used as a benchmark for effective resource management of the implementation of water security.
Page 947 of the Budget states that the department's legislative mandate is to ensure that the country's water resources are protected, managed, used, developed, conserved and controlled through regulating and supporting the delivery of water supply and sanitation. So why does sanitation resort under the Department of Human Settlements and not under the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs?
The separation of the two functions is almost like a divorce, which is never amicable, to say the least. I think it is time to kiss and make up and return sanitation to where it belongs, to the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs. The department's overall budget has been increased from R8,993 billion in the 2012-13 budget to R10,187 billion in 2013-14, reflecting an increase of R1,2 billion. This was necessary in order to fund bulk water infrastructure, infrastructure management and regional bulk infrastructure grant support programmes.
The budget sets out additional allocations of R1,5 billion in 2013-14, R2,9 billion in 2014-15 and R5,5 billion in 2015-16; R91,3 million over the medium term for improved conditions of service; R150 million in 2013-14 for acid mine drainage; R4,3 billion for the municipal water infrastructure grant over the medium term to provide for interim water supply in rural households, as identified and prioritised by Cabinet, in the 23 district municipalities; R3,7 billion for the upgrade and refurbishment of six existing plants and bulk infrastructure projects; and Rl,5 billion for the phase 2D upgrading of the Steelpoort to Mooihoek pipeline and the construction of a new pipeline from the Flag Boshielo Dam to Mokopane of the De Hoop Dam's bulk distribution system.
The department's difficulty to attract and retain suitably qualified staff resulted in the budgeting of some R485 million for consultants, which represents almost 46% of the compensation of employees. This figure is at an unacceptably high level and we welcome Cabinet's decision to reduce this by R8,5 million in 2013-14. Whilst we understand that the department cannot function without suitably qualified engineers and technicians, the vacancies must be filled as a matter of urgency.
The establishment of the Business Process Re-engineering Committee was a move in the right direction to address the challenges in improving water democracy, governance of the water sector, and optimising the water infrastructure and facilities, business process re-engineering, financial management and controls of the Auditor-General's annual audit.
The National Water Resource Strategy 2 was comprehensively reviewed in order to give guidance to all future priorities throughout the country in water resource management, but it still needs to be adopted. The plan will also address the adoption of the nine catchment areas on a regional level within three years to provide regional bulk infrastructure and to support municipalities on bulk water provision.
The National Water Resource Strategy 2, NWRS 2, will also have to address the equity in allocations in order to address the historic imbalances. The Water Tribunal has become a nightmare. The tribunal has not sat for well over a year and the backlog is mounting and litigations are the order of the day. We welcome the Business Process Re-engineering Committee, BPRC's, proposal and assistance in establishing the interim dispute resolution mechanism.
Acid mine drainage is a problem not only in the Witwatersrand but also in Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Cape. The rising mine water levels have the potential of polluting groundwater resources that could have devastating ecological impacts. We welcome the increase of R208 million to the initially allocated R225 million by the National Treasury to the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, TCTA, for the installation of pumps and on-site treatment plants, but this still leaves us with a shortfall of R492 million.
The department will also have to look into fast-tracking its labour relations processes as the lengthy delays of up to two years ... Thank you. [Interjections.] [Time expired.] [Applause.]