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Clean water still a concern in South Africa

18th January 2019

     

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Despite so many innovators in the sector, South Africa is still confronted by many challenges in the water and sanitation sector.

As a means to mitigate challenges, Water and Sanitation Minister Guguile Nkwinti held an event in November where stakeholders within the sector can work together in finding solutions to address the service delivery challenges that plague the sector.

Addressing about 450 delegates who included sector leaders, experts, academics and innovators during the Ministerial Interactive Session in Boksburg, Nkwinti mentioned that the country’s Waste Water Treatment Works do not have the capacity to cope with the developments that are taking place and hence the question is what is it that technology can do to address these and other problems the country is facing.

The Interactive Session is Nkwinti’s response to a number of sector stakeholders and innovators who have inundated his office with solutions to challenges in the sector.

The session will ensure that the sector taps into new local technologies and solutions to ensure that it deals with challenges decisively.

Nkwinti said the country was faced with a serious challenge of capacity and highlighted the spillages in municipalities as examples of a number of critical problems that required attention and innovation.

Well-renowned researcher Dr Washington Nyabeze identified several problems that served as bottlenecks to the delivery of water and sanitation by government.

He advised the department to make water accessible to the poor by making it cheap.

He said one of the main problems that plague South Africa was the pollution of water and called for the prosecution and imprisonment of culprits.

He said the problems faced by the country on sanitation could be addressed by the decolonisation of the mindset and a speedy movement towards resilience. The department must accelerate the establishment of water catchment management agencies to address water issues at the local level.

“It is unacceptable that 20 years on we only have two water catchment management institutions.”

Department of Water and Sanitation special and strategic projects deputy director-general Trevor Balzer presented the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan that will address the country’s water challenges by 2030 and beyond.

The plan has been approved by Cabinet and it was in the process of being addressed through Parliament.

Balzer said there were three-million South Africans who still did not have access to drinking water and 14% who lacked proper sanitation.

He added that the agriculture industry used 61% of water for commercial use and irrigation, while municipalities used 27%. South Africa lost about 50% of its wetlands and the state of rivers was appalling.

Nkwinti also emphasised that the session is an opportunity to open

doors for new ideas to come forth.

Edited by Zandile Mavuso
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor: Features

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