The Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Ms Buyelwa Sonjica, today, Wednesday, 17 March 2010 released the official 2010 host cities drinking water quality management audit report. The report serves to inform on the audits conducted by the Department of Water Affairs on the drinking water quality management practices of all 2010 FIFA host cities to determine compliance levels with the current Blue Drop Certification requirements.
This release coincides with the celebrations of the National Water Week which is running since 15 to 21 March 2010. Addressing members of the media in Cape Town the minister said that the, “celebration of National Water Week this year comes at an opportune time when our country is getting ready to host one of the world’s most spectacular sporting events, the FIFA World Cup tournament. We, in the Department of Water Affairs as committed and proud citizens of this beautiful nation of ours felt an obligation to make a contribution to the ongoing efforts to provide the many visitors we expect on our shores with information and to, at the same time, encourage the better management of our water resources.”
She said the department as a water sector regulator introduced this incentive-based regulation system, The Blue Drop, to the municipal drinking water quality management fraternity in 2008 and that this approach is an attempt to ensure that sustainable improvement towards excellent management of drinking water quality (DWQ) is stimulated and maintained.
The report shows that all systems audited scored 95 percent and more got official acknowledgment through the allocation of the prestigious Blue Drop status. In this regard the minister said that the department has joined hands with the drinking water regulator in the United Kingdom (UK) (drinking water inspectorate) to ensure enhanced local regulatory credibility. These joint audits were conducted for four of the host cities in December 2009, while the rest were completed by February 2010.
She added that the 2010 host city drinking water quality management audit report was informed by these assessments and as such “our confidence levels are significantly high as far as the manner in which the drinking water quality is being managed by the various authorities. She praised municipalities for their contribution to this programme I wish to acknowledge the sterling work by municipalities and water boards, over the past few months. Their efforts and performance have ensured that I can now officially announce that the Blue Drop status can be awarded to all nine host cities.
In 2009 only six host cities obtained this prestigious award. The department will continue its performance monitoring efforts to ensure that the excellent performance is maintained. Together with the responsible authorities, the department will ensure that responsible and effective management of drinking water quality will be maintained.
An additional facility has been developed to ensure that the public and visitors have access to information on the quality of drinking water wherever they find themselves in the country. The department has also launched a webpage that provides information in a search engine format which reflects the actual quality compliance trends as monitored according to the registered monitoring programmes. The web link is called “My water” and can be accessed from the departmental http://website on www.dwa.gov.za.
Our country’s drinking water has been regarded as adequately managed for some time since high levels of compliance were generally recorded against the set national standard (SANS 241:2006), this despite the odd incident of failure that threatened to spoilt this good record. However through the Blue Drop certification process, progressive transformation from “good” to “excellent” has been stimulated, while not neglecting the areas where unacceptable practices have been identified. In these areas appropriate measures are applied to ensure turn-around.
The minister concluded by an assurance that South Africa’s drinking water ranked amongst the best in the world “the world can rest assured that tap water in all the host cities in South Africa complies with the set national standards and that adequate management practices are in place to sustain this during the FIFA World Cup tournament and beyond. Tap water therefore must be accepted as the preferred thirst quencher.” she said.
Issued by: Department of Water
17 March 2010
Source: Department of Water (http://www.dwaf.gov.za/)
