Question NW3618 to the Minister of Water and Sanitation
02 November 2022 - NW3618
Phillips, Ms C to ask the Minister of Water and Sanitation
Whether he will implement mitigating measures and/or introduce national legislation to ensure that water purification plants and sewerage treatment plants throughout the Republic, including Rustenburg, can supply both potable water to residents and businesses and grey water to businesses that use grey water to lessen the burden on our scarce water resources?
Reply:
The Department aims to publish compulsory National Water and Sanitation norms and standards for public consultation drafted under Section 9 of the Water Services Act, No 108 of 1997. In the draft norms and standards, there is a provision for grey water management. It is therefore critical for the public and various stakeholders to provide comments once the regulations are published to shape these regulations to provide necessary guidance on how water and sanitation can be managed and provided efficiently.
Mitigation measures can be addressed by various water services authorities (WSAs) as prescribed in the Municipal Systems Act, Act 32 of 2000 under section 76 which prescribes mechanisms for provision of services. This section empowers the WSAs to provide these services based on the situation in a particular municipality on how water and sanitation services can be provided, and these includes grey water management, water reclamation, decentralised systems such as septic tanks among others.
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