L Hendricks: Extended National Water Week Programme

26 March 2009

Programme director
Honourable Premier
MEC of Local Government, Housing and Traditional Affairs
Executive mayors
Councillors
Municipal managers
Distinguished guests
Officials
Ladies and gentlemen

Good morning. I am very pleased to be here today not only to reflect on the
achievements of government, but also to consider the work that still has to be
done to meet our target for universal access to water and sanitation and more
importantly to also announce an important intervention to deal with the current
and very unacceptable water quality problems that we are experiencing in the OR
Tambo District Municipal area.

Although our government has made great progress in providing our people with
water and sanitation in various parts of the country, and has already far
exceeded the internationally agreed 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDG), of
serving half of the population who were without water and sanitation in 1990,
our challenge remains enormous and urgent to provide services to those
communities that have not yet been reached. We have set ourselves a target of
providing universal access to a basic water supply and sanitation by the year
2014. We are confident that we will achieve this target, but I must stress the
importance that all spheres of government must commit to maximising the use of
the available resources to ensure that everyone in this country has access to
both water and sanitation by the target date.

While we are busy with this programme, we are well aware of the impact that
the lack of proper sanitation and safe drinking water has had on our people,
and in particular how this has contributed to the loss of lives through cholera
in some parts of the country, with Limpopo and Mpumalanga being the worst
affected areas. We, as caring government, cannot and will not tolerate / accept
any loss of life due to any form of waterborne disease, be it cholera, typhoid
or any other waterborne diseases. That is one of the reasons why I am here
today to announce further support to the District Municipality (DM) to deal
with the challenges of failing and ageing infrastructure.

This intervention will however not achieve the expected outcome if national,
provincial and local government do not take up their joint responsibility to
ensure that the basic needs of our people, including water and sanitation are
met, a responsibility which goes far beyond only the provision of toilets and
taps, and more importantly includes the proper operation and maintenance of the
water supply and sanitation systems which a primary responsibility of the
municipality, but where they have to work together with the residents /
communities.

The municipality on the one hand must secure and efficiently use its
resources to deliver sustainable services (both in terms of quantity and
quality), while on the other hand the communities have the responsibility to
protect the infrastructure and make sure that there is no vandalism and misuse
and that water is conserved. This of course includes rivers which must not be
used as a convenient place to throw our rubbish. We have to protect our water
resources, remember that everyone one of us lives “downstream” and are impacted
by the way those who live “upstream” treat the resource.

Let me for a moment; use this opportunity, to reflect on the cholera
situation in our country. Cholera is a waterborne disease and some of the
outbreaks are directly linked to the lack of sanitation facilities or the poor
operations and maintenance of Waste Water Treatment works. The effluent from
these treatment plants does not always get properly disinfected and therefore
contaminates our rivers with unsafe bacteria and viruses. This lack of proper
water treatment has also been the case here in the Eastern Cape and this of
course also poses a serious health hazards to communities.

Much as we have seen a significant decrease in the number of reported new
cholera cases particularly where the outbreak has been the most serious in
Limpopo and Mpumalanga, we are still very worried about the fact that there are
new cases reported every day and some of these in areas where we have not had
cases reported before. It is our aim to ensure that through our intervention
programmes we arrest the situation as soon as possible and that we take action
now to eliminate the potential for any outbreaks in other parts of the
country.

While we implement our intervention programmes to deal with the
infrastructure, we also have to improve our health and hygiene practices. I say
this because I am concerned, that as reported to me in other parts of the
country, that many households are also not practising good health and hygiene
which also gives rise to the spread of disease in the water stored, the food
being prepared and through contact as a result of unwashed hands (the human to
human spread of cholera). This further illustrates the need for government
especially at a local level to look at service delivery in a more holistic
manner, with municipalities working much more closely with communities to
contain the diseases and to prevent its spread.

At the outset, I must recognise that the OR Tambo District has been
monitoring drinking water quality on a monthly basis, and reporting their
results to my department, I am however very concerned, firstly, at the decrease
in the number of samples being taken by the Municipality (a decrease of 60%)
and secondly, at the increase in the number of samples which show the presence
of E-coli (from an average of 9% in 2008 to 26% in 2009). The presence of
E-coli is a clear indicator of the state of your infrastructure and shows that
you are not putting enough effort into making sure that the water is
disinfected. This has to be dealt with as a matter of urgency as communities
are being put at risk, a situation which we cannot and must not tolerate. Water
and sanitation services are after all a constitutional and legislated
responsibility of this municipality. The OR Tambo District Municipality must
therefore take very urgent action to deal with the state of failures and ensure
that adequate resources (both human and financial) are allocated to perform the
functions and operate and maintain the infrastructure.

Apart from the problems in this district municipality, I am generally very
concerned about the number of cases of non-compliance of water treatment and
wastewater treatment plants by other municipalities and role players. This non
compliance just serves to make the situation worse and threatens both human
health and the environment. I have instructed my officials to take swift action
to ensure that there is compliance with the legislation, and where appropriate,
to provide support to municipalities to rectify problems. Where there is a
total disregard of compliance, directives will be issued to municipalities, the
private sector, individual farmers, and other government departments with the
aim of ensuring that our water resources are protected and utilised efficiently
for the benefit of all. Failure to comply with the directives could lead to
legal action being taken. We will also continue to monitor and assess the
quality of drinking water provided to consumers through our nation wide water
quality monitoring programme and identify “hot spots” where it may be necessary
to intervene.

I have learnt with concern that there are a number of waste water treatment
plants in this district municipal areas are effectively dysfunctional. Clearly,
this is unacceptable and must be addressed very urgently.

We are a government at work, so what have we done to deal with some of these
problems which I have just referred to? Firstly, I have been informed that the
OR Tambo District Municipality has allocated an amount of R7 million, secondly,
the Provincial Department of Local Government, and Traditional Affairs has
provided an amount of R10,6 million to the municipality to upgrade
infrastructure and rehabilitate pump stations, and thirdly, I am pleased to
advise you that I am allocating a further R25 million to the municipality
specifically to deal with the waster water treatment works which serves the
town of Mthatha. This is quite clearly a demonstration of the three spheres of
Government coming together, and pooling their resources to ensure that we are
able to effectively deal with the challenges we face as a result of ageing and
failing infrastructure. This is an ANC government at work demonstrating that
“Working together we can do more” in order to achieve a “better life for
all”.

I would like to point out that the R25 million which I have just allocated
is part of a much larger allocation of R88 million which I have made to the
province with the aim of assisting municipalities to accelerate infrastructure
delivery (provide more access to water and sanitation), deal with sewer
spillages (“hot spots”), and, implement water conservation and demand
management.

Let me hasten to add that this is not the only intervention by my department
in the province. The department is also directly involved in the following
activities:
* The all towns' reconciliation study
* The Mzimvubu project
* Water conservation and demand management
* Trees for food programme
* The war on poverty programme
* Staff retention and development programme

In order to ensure that water services authorities have the correct water
resources planning information available to complete their Water Services
Development Plans and Integrated Development Plans, our department has
initiated the “All Towns Reconciliation Study” which is targeting 134 Eastern
Cape towns, of which 48 were flagged as urgent, and 10 had been flagged as
extremely urgent.

The primary focus of the study is on the reconciliation of water
requirements and the available resources for each town to be able to provide
for current and future water needs in terms of the right “water mix” for each
municipality, be it groundwater, surface water, return flows, re-cycling or
rainwater harvesting. A stand alone strategy will be developed for each town.
This can eventually be rolled up into a district, provincial or catchment
plan.

The Mzimvubu project which was identified as one of the priority initiatives
of the Eastern Cape Provincial Government, in order to harness the water
resources of the Mzimvubu River, the only major river in the country which is
still largely unutilised. Our department plays a role in this project by
contributing to the water related inputs for any of the Accelerated and Shared
Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) development proposals. The
“Mzimvubu Development Zone” covers not only the Mzimvubu river catchment, but
also neighbouring areas such as the Pondoland area and parts of the Mthatha
River catchment. We are very aware of the responsibility we have to contribute
to the success of the Mzimvubu development project in terms of the five pillars
of the project, afforestation, irrigation, hydropower, water transfer and
tourism.

Water conservation and demand management is vitally important to reduce
water wastage, to save money and to ensure that the province is able to
“survive” the periodic droughts which occur. R500 000 has been committed to
Mthatha where the business plan has already been developed in relation to how
water conservation and demand management issues may be addressed, and an expert
has been assigned to assist this municipality with the implementation of water
use efficiency interventions.

The trees for food programme as a poverty alleviation measure being
implemented through our forestry programme continues to make an impact. Some 4
275 trees (80% fruit and 20% indigenous) have been planted in the King Sabatha
Dalindyebo Local Municipal Area. This project addresses poverty alleviation by
directly tackling issues of food security and malnutrition and should also be
seen as an innovative public greening initiative that contributes provincially
towards the improvement of the quality of life. The project will also provide
low income households and schools with fruit trees to plant at their homes.

My department has also made a contribution to the launch of the poverty war
room by the province at Lubala Village (Lusikisiki) in OR Tambo District
Municipality (ORT DM), where we have provided fruit trees for the whole
community. Currently six community members employed through the working for
water project are being
trained for the provision of water and sanitation at the local school. The
provision of water through boreholes to the community is at 60% completion and
6 of the 15 rain water harvesting tanks have been delivered.

Our department has also very recently provided support and funding in an
amount of R1,152 million to the OR Tambo District Municipality to run a
programme for staff retention and development. This programme includes an audit
of all water and waste water treatment plants to assess the skills challenges,
the recruitment of staff to fill the identified capacity needs in plant
operations, as well as the assessment and identification of key Plant Managers
to fill the gap between operations and maintenance. Learners have already been
deployed to plants where they will be given Sector Education and Training
Authority (SETA) approved training and ten identified middle managers are being
mentored. The programme also includes provision for monitoring and
evaluation.

In conclusion, I would like to thank you all for attending this function
today and making sure that by working together we are able to build a better
life for all.

Thank you.

Issued by: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
26 March 2009
Source: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (http://www.dwaf.gov.za)