20 January 2006
A two-day North West Water Summit, the ninth in the country, will today come
to a close here in Mafikeng. The summit is aimed at bringing together
stakeholders for integrated appreciation in dealing with water.
Addressing an audience mainly from the local government structures Premier
Edna Molewa said the North West has an uneven spread of water and costly
regional distribution. She said one of the most critical challenges in water
resource is that the province has limited and very vulnerable ground water as
well as low yielding seasonal rivers in the interior, resulting in limited
water resource availability generally.
Premier Molewa urged the summit to look at the huge backlog in basic
sanitation which she said continues to condemn many people to inhuman bucket
system.
"About 70 000 or 2% of our population still use the bucket system while the
total sanitation needs represent about 54% of the total population. We
therefore need to move with great speed to address this challenge in the less
than five years we have before 2010," she said. The Southern District in the
Province is still facing this challenge however work is in progress to address
the problem.
The Premier expressed also her government's plan to eradicate the bucket
system in the entire province by end of 2007. A challenge she said could be
addressed if informal settlements ceased to mushroom everywhere.
Her promise to eliminate the bucket system was echoed by the
Director-General in the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry Jabu Sindani.
He was speaking on behalf of Minister Lulu Sonjica.
Sindani said with respect to the challenge of sanitation, in co-operation
with the Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG) and the National
Treasury, R1,2 billion was made available nationally over the next three years
to eliminate the bucket system once and for all.
Participants at the summit suggested various forms of water management
systems including the building of underground water retention and storage
facilities. This it is believed would curb the problem of water evaporation
caused among others by searing heat.
It emerged that the provincial government also faced challenges from
individuals who had underground water on private properties but were not
co-operative.
A National Water Summit will be held later in the year and will look among
others at the assessment of water related programmes, problems and sanitation
backlog.
Enquiries:
Cornelius Monama
Spokesperson
Cell: 082 578 4016
Tel: (018) 387 3456
Russel Mamabolo
Media Liaison Manager
Cell: 082 900 6610
Tel: (018) 387 3103
Issued by: Office of the Premier, North West Provincial Government
20 January 2006
