Lindiwe Hendricks, Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, Mangaung Local
Municipality, Botshabelo, Bloemfontein, Free State
4 December 2007
Premier of the Free State
MEC of the Free State Local Government and Housing
Executive Mayor of the Mangaung Local Municipality
Councillors
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Introduction
Thank you for joining me at the launch of the national Water Conservation
and Water Demand Management (WC/WDM) Pilot Programme. This launch is taking
place during the 16 days of activism against women and child abuse, an
important campaign for South Africa where we are saying that the violence
against women and children in our country is not acceptable and must stop.
During these 16 Days there have been marches, rallies, discussion groups,
choirs and other ways of creating awareness of the problems of violence against
women and abuse of children. Ladies and gentlemen: Real men don't abuse.
As part of these 16 Days of Activism we commemorated World AIDS Day on
Saturday, 1 December 2007. Far too many people in our country have died as a
result of AIDS, and this day has special significance for us as this disease
has an impact on all South Africans. The government is asking the citizens of
this country to be aware of HIV and AIDS, be aware of how HIV is spread, be
aware of your status, and show compassion for those living with HIV and
AIDS.
As Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, I am particularly aware that
clean water and decent sanitation is a necessity for all our citizens, but
particularly those who have HIV and AIDS.
Premier, water is life, and along with sanitation, forms such an important
part of our existence. By having access to these basic services they improve
our lives and even contributes to economic growth and job creation. I am
therefore very pleased to hear that the programme to replace buckets in the
formal established areas in this municipality will be completed by December and
that the remaining buckets in this community should be removed by March next
year. As the buckets in Mangaung are being replaced with flush toilets it is
important for us to understand the real challenges that we face around water
scarcity in our country, so that we understand the need to save and conserve
our water.
Water is also a necessity for economic growth: to generate electricity our
power stations need vast quantities of water, as do our petrol refineries,
mines, factories, and other industries. The government, through the Accelerated
and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (AsgiSA), is targeting six percent
annual growth by 2010 as a means to accelerate job creation and poverty
eradication, and we will need water.
Water is life, water contributes to growth and development, yet there is
still so much water being wasted in our country. When we walk in the streets
and we see water flowing from burst pipes, or when we have leaking taps and
pipes in our workplaces or homes â water is being wasted. All this water being
lost costs money â it is expensive to build and manage dams, construct
pipelines, reservoirs and other infrastructure, as well as treat water and take
it to households. Water is not free and the water being wasted costs us money.
We have done studies that show how much water is being lost and as much as 29%
of the water for domestic use is lost or not accounted for.
While many other countries are in a similar position to us with regard to
the water lost or not accounted for, it is far too high for us as we are living
in a water scarce country and do not have unlimited financial resources. We
need to ensure that measures are taken to address the water that is being
wasted but also that we make people aware of the need to change their behaviour
so that they use less water.
Ladies and gentlemen, in the past we were only really concerned about water
during periods of drought, otherwise we were unconcerned about the water being
wasted, yet in a country that receives half the world average of rainfall we
always need to be concerned about water.
As our economy and population grows so we will need more water. To
accommodate this increase in demand we will need to build new dams and other
infrastructure but we will also need to ensure that we conserve water.
Water is life, and we need to change our behaviour to save water.
National WC/WDM Flagship Programme
Programme Director, Plato the famous Greek intellectual, who lived over 2
500 years ago, captured it best when he said: "I savour every drop, for when
there is naught, I am nothing, and my life ceases to exist." This message
should form the basis upon which all of us should be moving as we create and
entrench a culture of water conservation in our country.
The programme that we are launching here today is part of that message and
is a call to action for all water users â government, all types of businesses,
and communities. This programme is founded on four pillars which are social
interventions, technical interventions, economic interventions, and
institutional and legislative interventions.
* The social interventions include our National Waterwise Campaign where we
use Radio, TV adverts, and Newspaper, as well as community training to make
people more aware of the scarcity of water in our country and how they can
contribute to saving water.
* The technical intervention is to work with the water users to repair leaks,
replace the old plumbing that uses too much water, and installing devices that
can save water.
* The economic intervention looks at how we can give water users an incentive
to use less water. The price of water is one way of making this intervention â
for example the more water that you use the more you pay per kilolitre, another
way is to give the big water users a financial incentive to use water more
efficiently and stop wasting water by repairing leaks or by implementing water
saving technology.
* The last intervention is through institutions and legislation, particularly
municipal bylaws. This intervention would also see us introducing regulations,
guidelines and standards for items such as toilets, taps, showers, washing
machines and dishwashers to be more water efficient.
Programme Director, through these interventions we hope to create a culture
of Water Conservation and Water Demand Management in South Africa.
Pilot Programme
For several years we have been running the Waterwise Campaign and through
this programme we will be expanding it so that more people are reached and
become aware of the need to save water. We are also running a pilot programme
with eight municipalities from different provinces to demonstrate to the rest
of the country what can be achieved to save water and how best to do it. This
pilot programme will look at how to implement these four interventions in their
municipality, and we have allocated R49 million towards these water
conservation pilot projects. I was informed that representatives from all eight
municipalities were invited to today's launch event.
The first step of the pilot is to support the municipalities with developing
business plans for Water Conservation and Water Demand Management, and then to
assist with the implementation of these plans. The plans would include all four
of the interventions that I have spoken about.
We are watching these pilot municipalities closely as their successes will
enable us to support similar projects across the country and expand our efforts
of water conservation.
Even though we are launching this programme today some of the pilot
municipalities have already developed the business plans and started to
implement the water conservation measures. I am informed that progress has been
made in saving water and curbing leaks resulting in financial benefits for the
municipalities â and I congratulate you on these excellent first steps. For the
Emfuleni municipality these measures look likely to save them approximately R40
million per year, and much more if the programme is expanded.
These results are heart-warming as not only will there be significant water
savings but they will also contribute to an improvement in overall water
service delivery. Earlier this year I announced that in March 2008 (during
National Water Week) I will be holding Ministerial Awards to recognise those
that have significantly contributed towards Water Conservation and Water Demand
Management.
Benefits of Pilot Programme
Programme Director, this pilot programme has also contributed towards the
achievement of the government's objectives of creation of jobs. Importantly the
majority of the jobs created were for previously unemployed youth and women.
The jobs have been to repair leaking infrastructure and educating our
communities on ways to save water.
Thus far close to 300 jobs have already been created and the expansion of
this programme to other municipalities would see significantly more jobs being
created.
The successes of this intervention in creating jobs has shown that if this
initiative is taken forward by other Municipalities, a significant number of
jobs can be created and people trained while in the process of saving
water.
The jobs have involved:
* education and awareness to conduct a door to door township and rural
awareness on the need to conserve water,
* basic plumbing work,
* leak detection and repair,
* water loss inspections.
Another benefit of the pilot programme has been the training that has been
provided for the people employed in the programme as well as the training given
to consumers, water institutions and planners.
Industry and youth
Premier, for this programme to be successful we need communities and
businesses to partner with us and support the efforts to be Waterwise. Already
some of the big users of water such as Eskom are on board. Eskom is an
important partner for us as there is common ground between our water
conservation programme and the Eskom energy efficiency campaign where some of
the tips to save energy will also result in water savings. I therefore
encourage the municipalities to also participate in the Eskom programme.
Ladies and gentlemen, our water conservation programme also aims to bring
business and industry on board so that they not only save water in their day to
day operations but also for them look at manufacturing products or equipment
that can help us save water. We have many young people that are already
developing innovative products to save us water or solve some of the challenges
that we face in the water sector and we need to utilise these talented
individuals. Each year we run the South African youth water prize which awards
bursaries to the best students and give them the opportunity to compete against
students from the rest of the world. Already South African students have won
this international competition twice. I would like to see our industry picking
up on some of these innovations and working with these bright young students to
turn their winning ideas into products that would benefit our country.
Programme Director, some of the entertainment to be provided later today is
from the students involved in another of our programmes - Baswa le Meetse. We
are encouraging these young learners to be more aware about water and
understand the need to conserve water - they are also our ambassadors to take
these messages to their homes and communities. The Baswa le Meetse learners
always show such enthusiasm and passion in their performances, and I am looking
forward to their entertainment item.
Conclusion
To conclude, the government is working very hard to create a better life for
the people of South Africa, we are eradicating buckets, providing access to
water and sanitation, expanding access to social grants, improving health
services and education, and creating economic opportunities, amongst many other
things. But we also need your involvement and support to create a better life
for all â partner with us by not abusing, be aware of HIV and AIDS and take the
necessary precautions, and conserve water by being Waterwise. Remember water is
life, use it sparingly.
Finally, I want to thank our sponsors and organisers of this launch, the
Water Use Efficiency team, officials from my Department, and a special thank
you to Mangaung Local Municipality for their active involvement in the
organisation and hosting of this event.
I am pleased to now officially launch the Water Conservation and Water
Demand Management Pilot Programme.
I thank you
Issued by: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
4 December 2007
