Johannesburg - The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) says that although heavy downpours were experienced in some parts of the country, such as the Western Cape, the status of reservoirs illustrates that the country’s water levels have decreased marginally when compared to the same period last week.
According to the department, the overall storage capacity of the country’s water level sits at 95.0%, a slight drop from last week’s 95.2% and a tiny improvement from last year’s 93.3%.
Motor Industry Staff Association (Misa) Chief Executive for Operations, Martlé Keyter said South Africa is a water-scarce country and highlighted that last month the Department of Health confirmed that cholera-related deaths had risen to 31. There is cholera in five provinces.
"The writing is on the wall after the minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, released the Blue Drop Watch Report, which focuses on the current condition of drinking water. The reports paint a grim picture of the quality of our drinking water and identifies the collapse of the country’s wastewater treatment works," said Keyter.
He said that persistent water shortages were the result of the systemic collapse of the water supply services due to neglect, lack of maintenance, and corruption.
"The Blue Drop Watch Report shows dysfunctional local municipalities and non-compliant wastewater treatment," said Keyter.
Meanwhile, Mchunu is forging ahead with the reconfiguration of the two water entities in KwaZulu-Natal, Umgeni and Mhlathuze Water, to accelerate the provision of bulk water in the province.
According to the department, Mhlathuze Water is being disestablished effective on Friday, June 30, and will be merged with Umgeni Water, with all its staff, assets, and liabilities to be transferred to Umgeni, effective July 1 in terms of Section 46 of the Water Services Act, 1997 (Act No. 108 of 1997). This will then result in a single water entity, uMngeni-uThukela Water.
"An advert has since been published with the aim of getting public nominations for members who will be appointed to serve on the uMngeni-uThukela Water Board for a period of four years.
“The board members will be mandated to provide an oversight role as non-executive members of the uMngeni-uThukela Water Board and to support the executive management in delivering value-added services and business confidence in discharging their roles and responsibilities commensurable to a leading bulk water services utility in South Africa," said the department.
The Star