Tlokwe City Council has for the third consecutive year emerged victorious in the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs (DWEA) national Green Drop awards, scooping 97% to edge out Western Cape's Bitou Municipality's 96,4%.
Tlokwe received no fewer than five accolades for maintenance and management of its waste water works.
The awards were presented at the third Municipal Water Quality Conference in Cape Town held from 27 June to 1 July.
Tlokwe City Council also achieved platinum status for retaining its Blue Drop status for the third consecutive year. The Municipality came out sixth overall in the national Blue Drop category with a score of 96.87 percent, making the Municipality the best performer in North West.
Blue and Green Drops are incentive-based regulatory systems through which the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs monitors the quality of potable water and sewage management in a quest to improve municipal drinking water and waste water management.
This year 164 municipalities took part in the Blue Drop assessment and 156 in the Green Drop. Earlier in the year, the Water Information Network of SA (Win-SA) pin-pointed Tlokwe and Bitou municipalities as pockets of excellence and invited them to participate in a workshop to share critical success factors, good practices and challenges with other municipalities.
The information was included in a booklet on the lessons from Tlokwe and Bitou and distributed at the awards conference.
Tlokwe’s chief chemist, Ben Nell, was asked to make a second presentation on good practices in wastewater treatment during the conference in Cape Town.
The Blue Drop status is awarded to any municipality that scores over 95. Green Drop status is accredited to scores above 85 per cent for waste water management.
Blue Drop criteria are reviewed annually to improve standards and municipalities are expected to consistently better previous scores.
The daily municipal analyses are audited by DWEA on a monthly basis to ensure strict compliance to the set criteria. In addition, factors like the credibility of sample analyses, process control, maintenance and management skills, water safety planning processes and incident response management are also evaluated.
Tlokwe has been a water service authority (agent) as well as a water service provider since 1902.
It is one of only three municipalities that are water service authorities to feature in the top ten in both categories. All other municipalities rely on service providers for their water supply systems and treatment works.
Highest achiever: How Tlokwe’s Awards tally reads:
1. Obtained Blue and Green drop status for 2011
2. Also received platinum status for Blue Drop (retained Blue drop for three consecutive years)
3. Received a certificate for highest scores for Blue Drop and Green Drop in the North West Province
4. Received first place on the Top 10 list of all Municipalities in the country for Green Drop
5. Received sixth place on the Top 10 list of all Municipalities in the country for Blue Drop
Enquiries:
Ditshaba Makhate
Cell: 082 359 6979
Source: North West Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs
