Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP, members of the NCOP, hon Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Buyelwa Sonjica, Deputy Minister Mabudafhasi, scientists first brought the effects of carbon dioxide on climate change to the world's attention in 1967. Many governments were, and some still are, conservative in their responses. To do nothing when the situation is changing very rapidly is not a conservative thing to do.
During the past four decades, our knowledge and experience of the phenomenon have increased exponentially. According to Jacques Cousteau, and I quote:
Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans.
It is time to flip from scepticism to activism. It is time to respond appropriately and aggressively to safeguard our water security and supply; and indeed, environmental integrity is a key component of good governance.
We, as the SA Local Government Association, Salga, are also committed to achieving not only our soccer goals, but also our green goals in this, the Year of Biodiversity, 2010. We thank the Minister for her visionary leadership and support to local government to achieve these goals, not only financially, but also through the institutional support that has been given.
The sustainable delivery of water services cannot be realised without bulk water resources such as dams and regional bulk and waste water treatment schemes. The Minister's intention to convert single-purpose dams into multipurpose dams is, therefore, welcomed.
The raw water infrastructure investment outlined in the Minister's budget speech is also of paramount importance to future water security. These initiatives will hopefully stimulate the desired social and economic development required to uplift our most vulnerable, particularly the rural poor.
However, I would also like to say now that the urban poor need attention. Yesterday I looked at this very city's Integrated development plan, IDP, and budget, and Parliament is levied the same tariff as homes for the homeless. Therefore there is no pro-poor strategy in place, and we must ask that the NCOP play a more intense role to see that the strategic intent of government is enhanced. Salga applauds the Minister for the direction taken by way of these initiatives.
The polluting of water resources is of great concern to us. The recently published Green Drop report highlights the fact that our municipalities are not managing their waste water treatment facilities according to required norms and standards, and this is to the detriment of the environment. We therefore call upon the Minister to ensure that tougher measures are taken against defaulters. The polluters must pay.
Hon Minister, the industrial and agricultural sectors are the largest polluters of our water resources. We suggest that a similar certification programme be introduced for the mining, industrial and agricultural sectors. A programme such as this will enable us to quantify the magnitude of our pollution challenges.
We believe that such an approach would assist with the design of appropriate solutions at various levels, but, more importantly, would ensure that all players in the sector take responsibility for their actions.
We need to pay more attention to crosscutting issues and caution industry that they now place their company directors in jeopardy if they are found to be guilty of violating environmental and antipollution laws and regulations. Similarly, water should be identified as being at risk, as we are a water-scarce country. This has been provided for in the new Companies Act.
We, as local government, will do our part through monitoring, sampling and awareness-raising, and through improving our by-laws, particularly those applicable to mining.
Water loss in South Africa's distribution infrastructure and in the homes of low-income households has reached unmanageable levels. We lose between 20% and 40% of the water delivered by our bulk infrastructure. A significant part of the problem is that many water and waste water treatment schemes that municipalities inherited from pre-1994 authorities lack documentation such as updated drawing designs.
Some municipalities do not know where infrastructure such as pipes are laid, or were laid, how old these pipes are, or what materials were used, etc. Increasing use and pressure on these pipes lead to regular pipe bursts and leaks.
We are in dire need of a major, countrywide intervention of the magnitude of the Working for Water programme to address the problem. The purpose of such an intervention would be to locate pipelines, assess their condition, and implement a refurbishment or replacement programme. Local government calls upon national government through the Department of Water Affairs and the Department of Public Works to partner with us in this proposed initiative.
The proposed programme can be part of the Expanded Public Works Programme in which unemployed youth can be trained and used. This could serve as a pioneer initiative to locate and register the state of all Public Service infrastructure such as roads, water and waste water treatment plants, electricity, clinics, schools, and so on.
The register could inform infrastructure maintenance and refurbishment programme plans. In this way, we would create jobs and reduce the wastage of our increasingly scarce and expensively treated water, while simultaneously improving the efficiency with which we use our natural resources. We must measure what we manage.
The recent drought in both the Southern and Eastern Cape suggests that we might have to upscale seawater desalination, since this is one of the renewable natural water resource options available in some parts of our country. We reiterate the Minister's concerns about the impact of desalination on the marine environment and would like to add our concerns about the high cost of producing desalinated water and the colossal energy required to achieve this.
It is therefore imperative that renewable energy sources be used to attain this. We are therefore pleased that recycling and proper management of our current available resources will receive concurrent attention.
The establishment of the economic regulator for the water sector has become a priority for the Republic, and we appreciate the fact that the Minister has also prioritised it. This year's high bulk-water price increases are a direct result of the lack of economic regulation in the sector. Furthermore, the entire water sector funding model for water infrastructure development and management should be scrutinised to ensure a common water- pricing regime. Working together on this particular project, we can do more, and stretch our rand.
Salga supports Budget Vote No 37, the Water Affairs Budget Vote, and Vote No 29, the Environmental Affairs Budget Vote. I thank you.