Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Minister and members, this department aims to manage effectively the nation's water resources to meet the needs of current and future generations.
Departmental officials and the Water Research Commission warned in 2003 that the nation was facing a water crisis, and that the nation's water resources were not being entirely effectively managed.
Despite this, the previous Minister emphatically denied the existence of any looming crisis. Minister, you were present a fortnight ago when your officials presented a frightening picture of the current state of water affairs. Your pronouncements since then have certainly been promising.
I trust that you will not follow your predecessor's example and deny that South Africans are facing a water crisis. We are, we must admit this, and we must take the requisite steps to provide our nation with a safe and sustainable supply of water.
There is no doubting the achievements of the department over the years. We all applaud the provision of water and sanitation to more than a million households over the past five years. The remaining water and sanitation backlogs were scheduled to have been addressed by 2008 and 2010, respectively.
However, disturbingly, a 2008 Cabinet decision aligned the provision of universal access to water and sanitation with the provision of housing. So, the new target for ensuring universal access to basic services is now 2014. Pressure must now be exerted on the Department of Human Settlements to allow even this target to be achieved.
The budget identifies 2 634 schools that have yet to be provided with water supply or sanitation services. How do pupils learn when they do not have access to a tap or a toilet; how do they reach their potential? I note that in the budget there is a roll-out of rainwater harvesting tanks in rural areas, and the DA trusts that the priority area will be these schools.
The department has stated that all four large metros need serious consideration with respect to water supply and demand scenarios. The budget proposes a revision of the National Water Resource Strategy. How is it, though, that the last revision did not result in the prevention of the serious situation we are now faced with?
Another seemingly ill-advised Cabinet decision, made in December last year, has resulted in water conservation and demand management being implemented through co-operation with municipalities. Now, we support decentralisation, but the vast majority of municipalities in South Africa have either only one or, in fact, no water engineers in their employ. [Interjections.]
The vast majority of municipalities are unable to provide their residents with safe drinking water. The proposal that they be entrusted with the management of our water supply and demand is highly questionable. Catchment management agencies, as mentioned by our chair, with appropriate skills and the involvement of all relevant sectors might provide a more realistic option.
I return to the important issue of safe drinking water. The 2009 Blue Drop Report to which you alluded, Minister, should have indeed been cause for celebration, Instead, it was a cause for great disquiet. Of 145 water service authorities, only 22 achieved Blue Drop status.
Minister, the constitutional right, which as been referred to, of access to sufficient water must surely imply the right of access to sufficient safe water. [Interjections.]