Hon Chairperson, hon members led by the chairperson of the select committee, in terms of my acknowledgement, you are all distinguished guests and indeed ladies and gentlemen.
It is important that I start by apologising for the many requests that we have made to the Council to reschedule this Budget Vote. In the same vain, I must express appreciation to the Chairperson, Deputy Chair and all the members that you have at all times tried to accommodate us.
It is not as if we do not attach importance to this House. I sometimes get instructions from above to do certain things that throw me out of the country.
Firstly, I really want to apologise and, secondly, express our appreciation for your understanding.
The world will descend on our shores in less than 14 days, amidst reports that by 2025, 1,8 billion people will be living in areas where water is scarce. This clearly depicts the "thirsty world" referred to in the recent issue of National Geographic. I hope that during the stay of the people of the world, we will teach the world a thing or two about the importance of partnerships and shared responsibility in tackling water issues.
Allow me to remind this House of our shared constitutional responsibility towards water management in South Africa. As national government, we are the custodians of water resources management, but local government has the primary responsibility to provide the pipes, maintain them and deliver quality, potable and safe water to households and for other users.
Quite often, these constitutional roles get blurred, especially when there is the challenge of the fulfilment of our various mandates. Even when confronted by these challenges, we do not seek to extricate ourselves from the commitment to support local government in the delivery of water to South Africans.
Our support, as the Department of Water Affairs, for the local government turnaround strategy, is in fact premised firmly on that commitment and the pledge we made during our countrywide stakeholder road shows. You will appreciate that this support to local government is limited and guided by the budgeting process of government.
Our water is fit for consumption by all our citizens and the visiting nations of the world. I am sure that hon members are aware that in this country, our crystal clear drinking water is not hidden in dangerous mountain ranges and other secret locations. Our water is found in taps. It is for this reason that we should intensify programmes like the Blue Drop Certification for our drinking water quality. We introduced it almost two years ago as an incentive-based regulation for our municipal drinking water business.
We are even more encouraged that our municipalities have intensified their own efforts. This is to ensure improved water quality as reflected in the 2010 Host Cities Blue Drop Report. The assessment period saw 94% of all water services authorities being assessed, in comparison to 66% in the previous reporting cycle. This speaks directly to the commitment of most municipalities and their sterling efforts to improve on their drinking water quality responsibilities.
Members will be pleased to hear that in total, 38 water supply systems obtained the prestigious Blue Drop Award for the 2010 assessment cycle. This is a 40% improvement from 2009. It is unfortunate that nine water supply systems lost their Blue Drop status for this assessment period; but we are encouraged by the fact that we have 24 new Blue Drop certified systems in 2010. I however wish to clarify that the quality of water in those systems which fail to obtain Blue Drop status, is not necessarily poor or the water unsafe to drink. What it means is that we need to focus more on areas that require improvement in the systems.
Actually, what we are saying with this Blue Drop system is that we want 100% quality. Anything that is below 100% will still be scrutinised as we want to ensure that we reach the 100% quality. So, as we speak, it is safe to drink from a tap from any part of this country.
We are accordingly working closely with those municipalities that still have challenges to improve systems, so that they are able to meet the required standard. We are also assisting the good and excellent performers in maintaining the good quality standards so that ...
... njengokuba silungisa nje, zingashiyeki zisihla ezinye ezi besele zifikelele kulo mgangatho siwufunayo. Ngoko ke, sizigadile zonke kwaye asiyekeleli ngenxa yokuba ezinye zenze kakuhle. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[... as we are improving others, those who have already reached the level we want must not drop their standards. Therefore, we are keeping a very close eye on them and we are not relaxed just because others have done well.] We must join hands to fix the state of our waste water systems. As I mentioned last month during the release of the Green Drop report, we did not suddenly wake up to the news that our waste water treatment works needed urgent attention. The report is in fact our department's own initiative and is aimed at assessing the state of our waste water systems. This is also to devise interventions to deal with the challenges as identified therein.
The 2009 Green Drop assessments found that 203 out of the 449 waste water services systems that were assessed scored better than the 50% measured against the stringent set criteria. That constituted 45%. Of all waste water systems, 7,4% were classified as excellently managed, which is encouraging and proves that the benchmark is not an impossible feat.
We must therefore appreciate the findings of the report as an indication to strengthen our joint efforts to deal with these problems. It is a fact that some or most of these problems are not of our own making. The design capacity of some of these systems has been stretched to the limit, due to population growth and other economic factors.
Shortcomings in the local government funding model, as well as the skills deficit in the labour market, exacerbate the problem even further. We are also glad that this report has brought matters of waste water treatment firmly to the fore of the local government turnaround strategy.
For far too long, little effort and time has been spent on the operations and maintenance of these systems. It is indeed pleasing to put greater focus on these, so that we are able to identify funding requirements and other interventions necessary to improve their management.
We are also strengthening our institutional oversight capacity so that we can make the required positive impact in water delivery, especially through our water boards. I am accordingly pleased to mention that all water boards, with the exception of two only, are financially viable. This presents adequate leverage to enhance delivery of water at the local government level.
Our investment drive in water infrastructure is on course. The department has completed a supply and demand analysis on the status of water resources within the five metros. We plan to complete seven new bulk raw water augmentation projects during the 2010-2014 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, period.
To date, 35 regional bulk water schemes are under construction, of which 10 will be completed during the 2010-11 financial year - this financial year. Next year when I would be coming here for my Budget Vote, those 10 raw bulk water projects would have been completed. Approximately 588 000 people will benefit from the 10 projects to be completed during the 2010-11 financial year. This work will contribute towards ensuring security of water supply for economic growth and social development. These projects will in total cost us approximately R13,6 billion.
We cannot afford to fail our people and falter on our President's promise, which is captured in this quotation:
Never rest until every one of us has access to water. After all, it is in partnership with the masses of our people that we will deliver the promise of a better life for all.
I now present the 2010-11 Budget Vote of the Department of Water Affairs for your concurrence. I thank you. [Applause.]