Most South Africans have access to drinking water
An estimated 95, 2 percent of South Africans have received clean drinking water since 1994, according to figures released by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS). The figure is likely to increase in the next 12 months.
The figures show that the government has already met the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals of reducing the number of people who don’t have access to basic water supply by half.
This achievement is contrary to unwarranted fears expressed by some water experts that the country is headed for a crisis and that it may result in water-shedding in the near future.
However the Department concedes that drinking water quality remains a challenge; and while there are improvements, there are still risks that need to be mitigated against. As the population increases the operation and maintenance load has also amplified affecting the preferred standards that the department set for itself.
Drinking water quality management
In response to the challenge, the department as the Drinking Water Regulator has introduced and manages the Drinking Water Quality Regulatory System called Blue Drop System (BDS). The system is used to monitor the performance of all Water Services Institutions (WSIs) including bulk water services providers as detailed in the Blue Drop Certification Programme. The Blue Drop Certification programme is an incentive based regulation that was introduced by the department to encourage the WSIs to achieve an excellent drinking water quality management.
One of the key requirements of the Blue Drop is implementation of asset management which includes the process audit of the water services infrastructure, water services infrastructure assets register, technical staff competence and operations and maintenance budget. The department further highlights all areas that need an improvement to improve asset management.
The Blue Drop programme also includes risk assessment and management hence this process should assist the WSI to identify all risks associated with the water supply for both infrastructure and related water quality.
Drinking water quality compliance
The table below provides a national overview with respect to compliance with drinking water quality management.
Table1: National Drinking water compliance
Table 1 above shows that there is general compliance with the South African National Standard (SANS 241) for drinking water for both microbiological and chemical determinands. This means that the drinking water provided nationally is safe for human consumption and does not pose potential health threats as most determinands analysed for are within acceptable limits across the country.
However, of particular concern is the decline in terms of operational compliance by WSAs. Although this area requires an improvement, it should be also noted that drinking water still does not pose health risks to consumers. This implies that water could be aggressive to infrastructure due to low pH of water and other operational determinands that may damage household appliances such as geysers and kettles. The department is communicating with the Water Services Institutions to improve this. Where the WSIs experience any technical difficulties with regard to providing safe tap water to residents, municipalities inform both the department and residents of that town or area while resolving challenges that might be experienced.
The Department has further noted with concern the low monitoring compliance as indicated on the drinking water quality summaries. The department has been communicating low operational compliance with the affected WSIs to improve this area to avoid future non-compliance of micro and chemical compliances. The department identified 250 water supply systems that need intervention due to non-submission of data and low performance of the operational compliance with the standard (SANS 241).
Several impediments to the supply of basic water services include but are not limited to:
- Inadequate investment in maintenance, rehabilitation and replacement of old infrastructure resulting in growing service failures, spillages, declining resource water quality due to inadequate effluent quality and intermittent water outages
- Inadequate asset management is compromising water quality and reliable supply in all areas
- Drinking water quality management is inadequately funded at municipal level, including funding for sampling and analysis, as well as operations and maintenance
- Lack of trained staff and inadequate protocols.
Enhanced regulation and enforcement of minimum water quality standards is therefore imperative. These include implementation and enforcement of regulations which spell out the minimum qualifications required for personnel operating treatment works, proper asset management including operation and maintenance of infrastructure.
For more information contact :
Sputnik Ratau
Cell: 082 874 2942
