An update to South African Parliament: Water and Sanitation

The Ministry of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitary Affairs led on 21 April, by Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and her Deputy, Ms David Mahlobo and Ms Pamela Tshwete, has been working on the vital work of the Commissions around the country to curb the spread of the virus (COVID-19). Minister Sisulu set the stage for the presentation by outlining all of the activities that culminated in the President’s State of National Disaster Declaration, which then precipitated the acts that followed and continue for the two departments, namely Human Settlements and water and sanitation. 

The State of National Disaster Declaration indicated the suspension of the cabinet’s regular operations replaced by the establishment of a Presidential Coordinating Council and NATJOINTS.

The condition of the national tragedy has significant implications for the departments. Settlements for human beings and water and sanitation had to change their working methods. They must function differently, but they must consistently provide vital services. They formed a Rand Water Command Centre, co-chaired by the DG at DWS and Rand Water CE. This Center offers links to the DWS Provincial Heads, water boards across the country and to municipalities every day. They were fortunate enough to link up with the water tank association and tanker manufacturers which allowed us to buy them directly from them, to buy bulk and to make considerable savings while purchasing this for the state. 

DWS General Manager Mbulelo Tshangana and Rand Water CEO Sipho Mosai addressed the activities conducted by Minister Sisulu in response to the rise in COVID-19 infections as a matter of the urgency. Messrs. Tshangana and Mosai suggested that the National Water and Sanitation Command Centre was developed and run. They also indicated that an amount of R306 million was set aside for the exercise in response to the pandemic. The result was the need for immediate procurement and the reprioritisation of the grant for DWS National Bulk Infrastructure – Schedule B. 

While all is done to ensure that this is a guiding force for the pandemic response, it is also obvious that this will not be enough. This led to current negotiations between the National Treasury and the DWS to find an additional R831 million to boost current funding but to make the response more important and sustainable.  As of Monday 20 April, 7698 water tanks were mounted all over the country and 1239 water tankers (trucks) were also supplied. Those statistics are changing goals that shift every day as further distribution happens. 

The argument was made that the use of water tanks and tankers is not considered the only solution to water supply and utility issues. A number of solutions must, therefore, be considered.

These include:

1	Ensure that all tanks are transferred as assets to the responsible Water Services Authority.
2	Jointly develop a sustainable operations strategy for each system; with the objective of reducing tanker-hauling dependence, e.g. Ground-water exploration, Water main Connections, etc. by the DWS, SALGA & CoGTA.
3	Convert water tanks into a rudimentary water supply scheme to enhance accessibility.
4	Render support to the Department of Basic Education with water supply projects in vulnerable communities.

With regard to sanitation, DWS is in the process of providing containerized or clustered wastewater treatment facilities, which are to serve as temporary sanitary services (especially for high-risk informal settlements which are densely populated). DWS is to connect, as far as possible, to established municipal water services or to design/design temporary collection where necessary. An examination of the Basic Water Quality Requirements needs to be conducted and a rudimentary interim framework introduced to speed up the backlog.

Other recommendations include:

1	Review the Grant Funding model to allow for more efficient and effective water and sanitation infrastructure implementation.
2	Improve coordination and functionality of command structures across the three spheres of government, to ensure monitoring, reporting and targeted implementation.

The water mix would be essential to integrate under-used water sources such as groundwater, return flows, water conservation and water demand as well as household water tanks.

Data Source: South African Government

Issued by: Department of Water and Sanitation