Questions and Replies

Reply:

(a) Botshabelo has a total of 757 Buckets of which 155 are located in Section K. Buckets are scattered throughout the settlement and mostly on informal stands. Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality has a total of 1 347 Bucket toilets to be eradicated.

(b) My Department does not fund Metropolitan Municipalities for sanitation programmes since such municipalities receive the Urban Settlement Development Grant (USDG) from the Department of Human Settlements to attend to issues related to the Built Environment which include the provision of municipal services, roads, human settlements etc.

(c) My Department will monitor the programme by the Metro to eradicate all VIP and Bucket Toilets over the next four years.

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Reply:

(1) The latest information with regard to spillages that have been reported is taken from those received from April 2015 to date. The number of cases reported to my Department are 19 and the cases are captured to include all the 9 provinces. Refer to Annexure A.

(2)(a) My Department through the various provincial offices undertake planned audits for the Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTWs) against their water use license, and also attend to queries received from consumers and those reported through the media as a means to attend to spillages resulting from the WWTWs, pumpstation and manholes.

(2)(b) In areas where spillages are as a result of manholes or pumpstation and municipalities have challenges to address the spillages, the rapid response unit is despatched to the affected municipality. However, Water Service Authorities (WSAs) are able to address spillages in-house if it’s detected early. In cases of a overflow from a WWTWs, nature of overflow dictates intervention and assistance needed. As a result the nature of the overflow will determine if the matter can be addressed rapidly or if it will require the plant to be upgraded to address the overflow.

In areas where it is as a result of overloading due to capacity constraint, such plants are prioritised through various support programmes of my Department for allocation of funds (Regional Bulk Infrastructure, Municipal Infrastructure Grand and Accelerated Community infrastructure programme) to upgrade the plants or in other cases refurbishment to ensure the plant operates efficiently with functional equipments that will be able to handle loading coming into the plant. The overflow as a result of design capacity constraint may not necessarily be addressed rapidly due to the fact that the upgrades are often multi year projects which take longer to construct before the overloading is completely addressed.

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Annexure A

Region	Sector	Investigations & Inspections Reported	Investigations & Inspections Investigated or Inspected	Water User License Yes	Water User License No	Non-compliance Letters	Pre-directives	Severity of each case
Eastern Cape	Local Government [WSA/WSP]	11	11	0	11	0	7	Each cases reported were severe based on the fact that spillages reported has potential to pollute the environment hence pre-directives were issued.
Free State	Local Government [WSA/WSP]	1	2	0	0	3	0	Each cases reported were severe based on the fact that spillages reported has potential to pollute the environment
Gauteng	Local Government [WSA/WSP]	2	2	0	2	0	0	Cases reported were regarded to be severe based on the fact that spillages reported has potential to pollute the environment
Limpopo	Local Government [WSA/WSP]	1	1	0	1	0	0	Each cases reported were severe based on the fact that spillages reported has potential to pollute the environment
Mpumalanga	Local Government [WSA/WSP]	1	2	0	1	0	1	Each cases reported were severe based on the fact that spillages reported has potential to pollute the environment
North West	Government [National/Prov]	0	2	0	0	0	1	Each cases reported were severe based on the fact that spillages reported has potential to pollute the environment
North West	Local Government [WSA/WSP]	2	1	0	2	0	0	Each cases reported were severe based on the fact that spillages reported has potential to pollute the environment
Western Cape	Local Government [WSA/WSP]	1	2	0	2	0	0	Each cases reported were severe based on the fact that spillages reported has potential to pollute the environment
National	Local Government [WSA/WSP]	19	23	0	21	3	10	Cases reported not only for wastewater treatment works however also includes manholes that are close to streams and rivers. This has been taken with great urgency and prompted investigations that led to issuing of directives and put those affected WSAs under regulatory surveillance by the department.

Reply:

(a) The development of a Master Plan for water resource infrastructure is currently in the information gathering stage entailing aspects such as condition assessment of existing infrastructure and updating of the asset management plan.

It should be noted that the Second Edition of the National Water Resource Strategy that was published in 2013 already indicates key information on new water resource infrastructure projects that are currently under development and this shall form part of the master plan.

(b) The development of the Master Plan is estimated to be completed at the end of August 2016.

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Reply:

1. The Wentzel Dam’s water level has dropped to 22% effective from end August 2015. The volume of water supplied from the Schweizer-Reneke Water Treatment Plant has also dropped from 4 Ml to 2.8 Ml per day. This has resulted in water supply shortages in Schweizer-Reneke Town and Ipelegeng Township.

The most affected are high-lying areas of Ipelegeng which are getting water intermittently during the night. To address this challenge, my Department in collaboration with water services authority, the Dr. Ruth Segomotsi Mompati DM, implemented the following short term interventions:

• The Fire and Disaster Unit from the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati DM is on standby to supply water to the clinics and schools.
• Two water tanker trucks are currently supplying water to the most affected areas of Ipelegeng Extension 4, 6, 8 and portion of Extension 5.
• A total of 9X10 000 liters Jojo tanks are placed at Ipelegeng (including clinics, schools, police station) and are being filled from 06H00 until 20H00 on daily basis.

2.  My Department has allocated R5,1 million to Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati DM under the Municipal Water Infrastructure Grant (MWIG) for intervention in addressing the short term water supply issues. Already eight non-functional boreholes have been tested and the results have confirmed dewatering on the aquifers. The scope of work for this funding entails:

• rehabilitation and refurbishment of existing boreholes;
• sitting and drilling of new boreholes;
• equipping of boreholes; and
• connecting mains.

Furthermore, my Department allocated R1, 589 million to Dr. Ruth Segomotsi Mompati DM under Accelerated Community Programme (ACIP) to address Water Conservation Demand Management issues in Mamusa Local Municipality. The Dr. Ruth Segomotsi Mompati DM is in the process of getting Bid approval and the work is anticipated to commence in October 2015.

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Reply:

(a)(i) A joint discussion has already taken place between the Department of Water and Sanitation together with COGTA, the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA), the office of the Presidency’s M&E unit and National Treasury, and a Project Management Office (PMO) has been established to co-ordinate and integrate all water services activities related to sustainable Water Services delivery in the 27 Priority DMs. The Department of Human Settlements is part of this initiative. The PMO will ensure that there is no duplication with regards to the water and sanitation service delivery and will ensure that funding alignment between different Departments and funding sources takes place.

(a)(ii) No separate actions are being undertaken by the Department. As stated above all water services actions are being coordinated through the PMO.

(a)(iii) A monitoring programme is being established to ensure that, once a pipeline of projects has been determined, they are implemented and run effectively. My Department has identified eleven key intervention activities that will be monitored to ensure the implementation of sustainable water and sanitation service delivery. They are:

1. Demographics;
2. Service Levels;
3. Socio-Economics;
4. Water Services Infrastructure;
5. Operational and Maintenance;
6. Associated Services;
7. Water Resources;
8. Conservation & Demand Management;
9. Financial;
10. Institutional Arrangements; and
11. Social & Customer Service Requirements.

A 5-year implementation plan will be developed and implementation thereof will be monitored at community and project level. The plan will be developed through a consultancy process at municipal level with relevant role-players and funding initiatives. The plan will be signed off by Council to ensure that no duplication takes place.

(a)(iv) Requesting Honourable member to note that, there are no two Departments which execute identical actions. Each Department finds its mandate in the Constitution, followed by the legislation administered by the respective Department, therefore the need for such a resolution mechanism has not arisen. My Department's mandate is highlighted in Section 3 of the National Water Act, 1998 (Act No. 36 of 1998):

“Public trusteeship of nation's water resources

3. (1) As the public trustee of the nation's water resources the National Government, acting through the Minister, must ensure that water is protected, used, developed, conserved, managed and controlled in a sustainable and equitable manner, for the benefit of all persons and in accordance with its constitutional mandate. (2) Without limiting subsection (1), the Minister is ultimately responsible to ensure that water is allocated equitably and used beneficially in the public interest, while promoting environmental values. (3) The National Government, acting through the Minister, has the power to regulate the use, flow and control of all water in the Republic.”

(a)(v) Falls away.

(b) Falls away.

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Reply:

(1) The non-functionality of Cradock Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) is attributed to the Water Service Authority functions transitioning from InxubaYeThemba Local Municipality to Chris Hani District Municipality, as it has been the case since 2014. This has been an inheritance of financial burdens which has adversely affected the whole operation and maintenance at the plant and at the sewage pump stations.Payments to maintenance service providers had been delayed as such some arms of the plant (motors, aerators, pumps, etc) that have since broken down and have not been repaired or replaced.

These are now attended to and the Cradock WWTWwill be fully repaired and will function at an optimum level in due course.

(2) My Department has taken steps to notify and request the Municipality to take corrective steps in rectifying the pollution of the Great Fish River water resource caused by the
non-functionality of Cradock WWTW and its associated sewer network infrastructure.

The following are amongst a number of steps taken by my Department:

• Firstly, my Department issued a non-complianceletteron 2 April 2013 informing the Municipality about the poor quality effluent discharged and the incorrect disposal of the sewage sludge from the Cradock WWTWs, copy of letter attached as Annexure A.

• Secondly, officials from my Department’s Provincial Office: Eastern Capeconducted aninvestigation on 1 August 2014 into the allegedpollution and it was revealed that pollution still persists. Therefore,myDepartment issuedanother non-compliance letter to the Municipalityon 11 August 2014 regarding pollution incidents entailing sewage spillages from manholes in Cradock, copy of letter attached as Annexure B/
• Thirdly, myDepartment also served the Municipality with non-compliance letter on 25 September 2014 following another site inspection that was conducted on
  16 September 2014 informing the Municipality about poor quality effluent discharged by the Cradock WWTWs and requesting the Municipality to submit an action plan taken by the municipality in rectifying the situation within 14 days.
• Thefourth interaction was a meeting that was held between Chris Hani District Municipality, Great Fish Water User Association,InxubaYeThemba Local Municipality and myDepartment at the Municipal Offices in Cradock on 10 February 2015 ,refer to attached Annexure C for minutes with actions and attendance register).

The aim was to further engage and persuade the Chris Hani DM as Water Services Authority to take action and correct the poor quality effluent being discharged by the Cradock WWTW into the Great Fish River. In this meeting the Municipality indicated the challenges (as mentioned in (1) above) promising to attend to the challenges with a detailed written response by 16 February 2015 as requested by myDepartment as was done even in previous communiqués, refer to attached Annexure D for the minutes of the .

It should be noted that there has not been any written response as yet from the Municipality after these engagements.

During the last inspection which was conducted on 12 August 2015, the presence of the Contractor on site was noted on site repairing some of the various arms of theWWTW.

(3) Table 1below is the summary of the effluent quality discharged by the (a) Cradock Wastewater Treatment Works and the (b) Great Fish River, downstream of the discharge point from the Cradock Works:

Table 1

Sampling Dates	Cradock WWTW	Downstream of Cradock WWTW
July 2012	0 cfu/100ml	58 cfu/100ml
August 2012	66 cfu/100ml	128 cfu/100ml
September 2012	7 500 cfu/100ml	86 cfu/100ml
October 2012	0 cfu/100ml	400 cfu/100ml
January 2013	2 cfu/100ml	7 000 cfu/100ml
March 2013	10 cfu/100ml	3 400 cfu/100ml
April 2013	0 cfu/100ml	4 400 cfu/100ml
May 2013	7 200 cfu/100ml	420 000 cfu/100ml
June 2013	520 cfu/100ml	164 cfu/100ml
May 2014	0 cfu/100ml	24 000 cfu/100ml
June 2014	0 cfu/100ml	24 000 cfu/100ml
September 2014	35 000 cfu/100ml	1 900 cfu/100ml
December 2014	37 000 cfu/100ml	40 000 cfu/100ml
February 2015	390 000 cfu/100ml	710 cfu/100ml
June 2015	4 600 000 cfu/100ml	42 000 cfu/100ml
August 2015	108 cfu/100ml	294 cfu/100ml

It should be noted my Department also done water sampling in August month for both Cradock WWTWs and the Great Fish River, downstream of the discharge point from the Cradock Works and the results are 108 cfu/100ml and 294 cfu/100ml respectively.

(4) No, the Department has not taken any plans to upgrade the WWTWs. The dysfunctional elements of the WWTWsare largely due to the lack of operation and maintenance at the WWTW and reticulation infrastructure, which if properly managed will render the works effective in its treatment of the sewage received.

The Upgrading of the WWTW would not seem to benecessary at this point unless further major developments are anticipated in the area. However, the Water Service Authority is currently attending to these repairs.

(4)(a) Falls Away.

(4)(b) Falls Away.

(5)(a) The current capacity of the plant is 8.3 mega litres per day.

(5)(b) The currently inflow is 5.6 mega litres per day average.

 

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Reply:

1. Yes, the Blue Drop System does show that during the period when InxubaYethemba Local Municipality (LM) was in control, the number of samples which were taken were higher (430 per year) than when Chris Hani DM was in control (122 samples per year). The quality compliance improved though in terms of turbidity (from 47,1% to 85,1%) and ecoli(from95% to 100%) since Chris Hani DM took over. The challenge currently is on the billing system as users have not been getting their accounts on services of the InxubaYethemba LM since Chris Hani DM took over the Water Services Provider (WSP) function. The turnaround time to repair leaks is still a challenge, but there is constant intervention from the Department through the Rapid Response Unit(RRU). Unfortunately, it cannot be said that the water service has improved since the Chris Hani DM took over.
2. There is currently no funding dedicated for the aging and inadequate infrastructure but the technical support is provided.
3. The Chris Hani DM purchased standby generators for both main water and main sewer pump stations which are currently the subject of the dispute with the service provider. According to Chris Hani DM, the dispute is on the verge of being resolved with the service provider.
4. Yes, there are ongoing interventions on a call down basis through the RRU and Operation and Maintenance O&M technical support.
5. The latest Blue Drop score is 71%.

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Reply:

(1) Yes ,my Department is monitoring the quality of water in the Great Fish River.

(1)(a) Through sampling of the water quality.

(1)(b) Monitoring is conducted on a quarterly basis.

(2) Yes, it is part of River Health Programme.

(3) My Department has issued a number of regulatory actions to the polluters. Action such as Non compliance notice and Pre-Directive are issued. Whilst Chris Hani District

Municipality (CHDM) did attend to some of the issues and did provide an action plan, this plan was not detailed enough to address the non compliances.

(4) The last compliance inspection was conducted on 16 September 2014 and was not in good condition. A non-compliance letter and a pre-directive were issued. Further meetings were held to discuss the status of the system.

(5) At the July 2015 site visit it was observed that repairs were being conducted to a horizontal aerator and to one of the two circular clarifiers. Two of the vertical shaft aerators were in operation and eleven of the horizontal shaft aerators were defunct and in various states of disrepair. The two inclined screw pumps were out of order and appeared to be partly dismantled or under repair. NW3823E

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Reply:

(1) With reference to question 89 of 10 March 2015 the response was adequately provided and was addressing the average cost of installing a Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrine at the cost of R9 500.00 (Nine thousand five hundred) that includes the top and underground structure, health and hygiene education, project management cost and construction costs, whereas the response to question 619 of 6 March 2015 was with regard to the Bucket Eradication Programme.

(2) The name of the contractors who built the 57 toilets in Makana Local Municipality: Eastern Cape is Tyolumnqa Civils and Andile Plant Hire. Construction was completed between November 2013 and March 2014 and payment was made to the contractor. The contract went out on tender for the construction of 737 toilets.

(3) The names of the contractors who built the 363 toilets in Sol Plaatjie Municipality: Northern Cape are Reyoko Construction and Designs and LFP Trading. Construction was completed in July 2014 and payment was made to the contractor. The contract went out on tender for the construction of 954 toilets.

The Rural Household Infrastructure Grant (RHIG) provides dry, on-site sanitation at an average cost of between R9 500 (Single pit toilet) and R11 500 (Double pit toilet) however, variations may occur from province to province and may marginally increase the cost due to location of the project and the availability of materials which at times will be imported or transported from other provinces, if adequate stock is not available from local suppliers.

With regard to Water Borne Sanitation, the cost of providing a new toilet structure in urban and peri-urban areas is between R12 000 to R15 000. This does not include the water and sewer reticulation network and other direct or indirect cost associated with the project. This programme does not provide sanitation in rural areas.

Requesting the Honorable Member to clarify on the referred calculated average cost of building a toilet at the cost of R96 491.00 and R40 943.00.

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Reply:

(1) Yes, the Water Tribunal has started with their work. There are no finalized cases. However, the Water Tribunal had its first hearing on the 22 July 2015 to 24 July 2015 and the cases were not finalised and were postponed to 27 August 2015 to 28 August 2015.

(2)(a) As at August 2012 when the Water Tribunal term of office came to an end a total of 124 cases were outstanding.

(2)(b) The Department currently has a total of 313 outstanding cases.

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Reply:

(1)(a) A total of 800 persons have started receiving training in July 2015 and as from September a further 2200 persons will start receiving training.

(1)(b) The trained persons will start working after completion of their 36 months / 3 years training programme .Water Agents that will be trained will complete their training after ten months and could start working thereafter.

(2)(a) Below is the breakdown of the15000 to be trained in the financial year 2015-16:

15000
Trades and quantities	Plumbers	Artisans	Water agent
	7500	5000	2500

(2)(b) Below is the breakdown of the 3000 to be trained in the financial year 2015-16:

3000 Phase 1 FY – 2015/16
Trades and quantities	Plumbers	Artisans	Water agent
	1500	1000	500

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(3)(a) The unemployed young people will be trained at various EWSETA accredited training institutions, TVETS(Technical Vocational Education and Training), municipalities and water boards in the nine provinces.

(3)(b) Artisans will be trade tested Artisans at the end of the training period, Water Agents will receive a qualification that is comprised of unit standard bearing credits to enable them to build up this basic qualification into a higher qualification. Plumbers will receive formal plumber qualifications from the respective accreditation bodies.

(4) My Department will fund this project over the 5 year project period through the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

(5) Yes, my Department has other plans to curb the high level of water losses in the country. There are initiatives such as the following:

  (a)The “No Drop” regulatory programme, which serves as a guideline for municipalities to develop strategies, plans to reduce water demand, water losses and non-revenue water.

  (b)  Campaigns to educate the public on the scarcity of water and also to encourage water conservation and demand management.

   (c) Training programme for councilors to institutionalise water conservation and demand management within the municipalities.

  (d) Municipal Self-Assessment System, which the municipalities use to conduct self-assessment in various areas including water conservation and demand management.

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Reply:

National Treasury has not yet approved my Department’s request for rollovers of R1 600 899 000 for Programme 1, 2, 4 and 5; and R1 557 184 000 in respect of each economic classification from the 2014-15 to the 2015-16 financial year.

National Treasury will only communicate the outcome of the rollover process on or before 11 September 2015 through the approved allocation letters as per the Guidelines of 2015 Adjustment Estimates of National Expenditure.

The non-approval of the requested rollover funds will necessitate the need for my Department to reprioritise the existing allocations for 2015/16 financial year within the programmes. This will result in the rescheduling of some of the infrastructure projects earmarked for the current year.

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Reply:

Requesting the Honourable Member to refer the question to the Minister of Corporative Governance and Traditional Affairs who is in a better position to respond to issues relating to the eThekwini Municipality.

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Reply:

(a) Raw and untreated sewerage is caused by many factors such as skills shortages in municipalities, aging and overloaded infrastructure and lack of maintenance. My Department is responding to this threat by implementing programmes such as Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant, Municipal Water Infrastructure Grant and Accelerated Community Infrastructure Programme. In addition, the Green and Blue Drops reports are compiled annually to provide an indication on the level of compliance of wastewater treatment works and whether conditions of authorisation are met. Furthermore, my Department provides the necessary support for the implementation of the recommendations in the reports. The discharge of raw or partially treated sewage into the water resource is treated as a pollution incident and my Department has enforcement measures that are taken in order to ensure that mitigation measures are implemented by the wastewater treatment owner to address and minimise the pollution.

(b) Yes, for the period in question, my Department had and continues to maintain stringent measures for the protection of water resources (and the general environment) from mining, agricultural and industrial impacts. In this regard, my Department has invoked principles of the National Water Act, 1998 (Act 36 of 1998) to ensure that mines, agriculture and industries take measures to ensure unauthorised mining, agricultural and industrial-impacted discharges are terminated or treated to a suitable standard before discharging to the environment. Furthermore, my Department has implemented mega civil projects to ensure that mine water (acid mine drainage) in Gauteng is mitigated. My Department’s ongoing regulation and enforcement measures will ensure that any current and future mining, agricultural and industrial impacts on the water resources are adequately addressed.

With regard to Agriculture, my Department has during this period embarked on continuous compliance monitoring for agricultural water use activities and annual targets are set on the Annual Business Plans; furthermore my Department through water use authorisations instructs agricultural water users to exercise good farming practices such as using strip vegetation within a 50 year flood line of the river to prevent run-off with pesticides or fertilisers from polluting the resources.

My Department also instructs water users to comply with all water use license conditions, which include conditions for the prevention of contaminants from polluting streams, rivers and groundwater, as set in the respective entitlements through audits.

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Reply:

(a) The Department currently has a total 984 invoices from private contractors that are unpaid for longer than 30 days.

(b) Refer to the attached Annexure A for a detailed list.

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Reply:

(1)(a) The Hoedspruit Package Plant with an elevated tank (which is used as a reservoir) and seven boreholes and not nine, as per the question raised, were constructed and commissioned on 28 May 2014 by the Mopani District Municipality to augment the supply of water from the Drankensig Water Treatment Plant owned by the National Department of Public Works. The initiative emanated from the 2011/2012 Maruleng Flood Disaster.

(1)(b) The total cost of the project was R11 972 303.00.

(2) The Package Plant is in use, however; the clear water pump has currently burnt out and the Mopani District Municipality has issued an order for repairs which will be installed by the end of August 2015.

(3) The capacity of the plant is 0.35Ml/d.

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Reply:

 

1. The plant is currently not in working order because the plant was affected by floods during 2014. In addition, theft and vandalism of mechanical and electrical equipment contributed to the plant not working properly.

(2) My Department has not done any intervention since the Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality proactively appointed the Lepelle Northern Water Board under a bulk contract to operate and maintain the plant. The Lepelle Northern Water is in the process of finalizing the appointment of a service provider to refurbish the Works (the process is at adjudication stage of appointment of the service provider). It is envisage that the plant will be fully restored to its normal operational status during December 2015.

(3) Yes, tests have been done at the plant's outlet. Test results are attached as Annexure A.

1. Yes, a non-compliance notification has been issued to the municipality for not taking reasonable measures to prevent pollution from occurring. However, the municipality is in the process to refurbish mechanical and electrical components of the waste water plants. This is set to improve the quality of effluent prior to discharge.

(5) 29.76 %.

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Reply:

(a) There are 320 dams on the departmental register country wide.

(b) Refer to Appendix A for locations of all the dams.

(c)(i) Appendix A also gives the storage capacity of each dam, e.g. Gariep Dam approximate storage capacity is 5 342 923 000 m3 {or 5 x 106 (x 1000 m3)}. The rest of the dams can be determined in similar manner.

(c)(ii) Appendix B gives the weekly state of departmental reservoirs and the level can be read on the last column of the table, e.g. Reservoir level of Gariep on the 17 August 2015 was 69.7 % full.

(c)(iii) The National Water Act 36 of 1998 Section 117 (c) defines a dam with a safety risk as a dam which contains 50 000 m3 of water and has a wall of a vertical height of more than five meters (5 m), measured as the vertical difference between the lowest downstream ground elevation on the outside of the dam wall and the non-overspill crest or the general top level of the dam wall. Therefore according to this definition, all the departmental dams are considered dams with a safety risk.

To deal with the question of safety-risk status of each specified dam, reference is made to Section 2 (1) of Dam Safety Regulations Government Notice R 139 of 24 February 2012, (hence forth referred to as "Regulations"), which states: "Every dam with a safety risk must be classified in accordance with this regulation 2 on the basis of its size and hazard potential to determine the level of control over safety of the structure that is applicable in terms of these Regulations".

These two parameters, i.e. dam size and hazard potential are utilised as stipulated in Tables 1 and 2 of the Regulations' annexure to determine the Category classification of the dam as stipulated in Table 3 of the Regulations. It is this category classification which is used as an indicator for safety risk 'status' associated with the dam.

In the attached Appendix A Column AC gives the size classification; Column AD gives hazard rating potential classification and Column AE gives the category classification, e.g. Gariep Dam, Category classification is 3, i.e. Size classification = Large and Hazard rating classification = High.

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Reply:

The Moretele Local Municipality (LM) has implemented and completed the upgrade of the Transactie Well Field water supply augmentation project which consists of a 10 km pipeline, chlorination house, equipping 10 boreholes, 10 pump house structures and 2.5 mega litres per day (Ml/day) reservoir. The total cost of the project amounted to R11 million. This project has increased the water storage capacity in the area from 0.35 Ml to 2.85 Ml (an increase of 2.5 Ml). The system is currently operational and people are receiving water, though the water supply source is not sufficient to deal with the current demand. To augment water supply in the area of the Moretele LM is providing tankering until a lasting and sustainable solution is found.

Long Term Plan

On 16 July 2014; my Department, the Moretele LM and Magalies Water signed a tripartite agreement to conduct a study for bulk water supply in Moretele including the Moretele North Portion. The study is at an advance stage, whilst the Moretele South is under Construction in Klipdrift and the Moretele North is under detail design which incorporates the entire Ngobi Village through the supply from Klipvoor.

 

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Reply:

The Umgungundlovu District Municipality (DM) is the Water Services Authority (WSA) responsible for water provision in the uMshwathi, Richmond and Mkhambathini Local Municipalities (LMs). The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is assisting with water relief to the Umgungundlovu DM by the provisioning of water services through the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant (RBIG) and the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MWIG).

(a) The Umgeni Water is implementing the uMshwathi Regional Bulk pipeline which is co-funded by Umgeni Water and the DWS’s RBIG programme. The secondary bulk components of the scheme are being implemented by the Umgungundlovu DM with support from the DWS’s MWIG programme. The scheme will supply water from the Mgeni supply system to the uMshwathi LM area.

(b) The Umgeni Water has recently commissioned the Eston bulk pipeline which is supplying water from the Mgeni supply system to the Richmond area. The scheme was co-funded by the Umgeni Water and DWS through the RBIG programme.

(c) There are no projects being supported by the DWS in the Mkhambathini LM. Support for water for commercial and subsistence farmers is the responsibility of the National Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and an Inter-Ministerial Task Team has been established to address the impacts of the current drought in the Province. The Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has provided inputs on the drought interventions in the Province at consultation sessions that are being led by the Disaster Management Unit of the Provincial Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

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Reply:

1. My Department is not the responsible authority for any mining authorization. We regulate water activities in a water course. The competent authority for granting mining permits is the Department of Mineral Resources.
2. A site investigation was conducted on 25 July 2015, by the Department’s enforcement team together with the SAPS. Upon completion of the investigation, my Department will, through its enforcement team, deal with the transgressor appropriately both administratively and criminally.

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Reply:

Neither me, the Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation, nor any officials of my Department travelled to China during the 2014-2015 financial year.

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Reply:

(1)(a) The total amount spent to end July 2015 is R41 713 943 (excl. VAT).

(1)(b) The relevant detail of expenditure is as follows:

DESCRIPTION	EXPENDITURE TO END JULY 2015 (excl. VAT)
ENVIRONMENTAL	R 399 319
LAND MATTERS	R 11 815 024
DESIGN AND SUPERVISION	R 23 216 748
CONSTRUCTION
- Dam	R 0
- Demolition of Buildings	R 6 282 853
TOTAL (excl. VAT)	R 41 713 943

(2)(a) The Hazelmere Dam has indicated an average of 0.72% increase in sedimentation over a 36 year period.

(2)(b) The storage capacity has been reduced from 23,94 million m3 to 17,675 million m3

(2)(c) Increased erosion in the catchment combined with increased sand-mining activities.

(3) Unlawful water uses through sand mining activities that contribute to sedimentation have been investigated on the Mdloti River upstream and downstream of the dam; and enforcement actions taken. A Catchment Management Forum also exists to deal with issues and concerns raised by water users within the catchment.

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Reply:

1. My Department has not been informed of the water crisis in Greenville Village, in Mthatha which has allegedly been without water for more than four weeks.
2. Upon receiving of this question, my Department’s Provincial Office: Eastern Cape investigated the matter and found out that water supply to Greenville Village was deliberately switched off by the O R Tambo District Municipality due to non-payment of water bills and there is nothing wrong with the water supply system. This area consists of government properties with some informal dwellings built around the houses. However, the OR Tambo District Municipality is carting water to the informal settlement of Kwa-Mpuku which is adjacent to the formal settlement. They have since put two Jojo tanks which are filled timeously. It will be further investigated if the houses are occupied legally which would enable Public Works to pay for the services rendered.

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Reply:

1. The Department of Water and Sanitation through the National Microbial Monitoring Programme (NMMP) provide the information needed to assess and manage the potential health risks to water uses related to faecal pollution of South African’s surface water resources. (a) The NMMP points are hotspots related and all the registered sites (217) are considered high risk and ranking them depend on a number of factors i.e. season, low and high rainfall period, year of assessment etc and (b) monitoring is an on-going process on a monthly/fortnightly basis.
2. The potential health risk associated with the use of faecal polluted water is based on four water uses or fitness for uses; namely

• Drinking untreated water;
• Drinking after limited treatment (domestic treatment);
• Irrigation of crops that can be eaten raw; and
• Full or partial contact/recreational activities.

(2)(a) All the reports (i.e. Annual/quarterly state of water & NMMP bi-monthly) indicate that there is a high risk (100 % risk) associated with drinking untreated water directly from all NMMP hotspots sites / rivers and the risks varies (low, moderate and high) for other fitness for uses at a given period.

(2)(b) The main source of faecal pollution is discharges from poorly maintained or dysfunctional sewage treatment plants into these hotspots rivers and the Department has come up with the Green Drop System to ensure proper management of waste water treatment works or progressive improvement in their operation so as not to impact negatively on the water bodies into which they discharge (i.e. to improve the quality of the effluent). The water use upgrades licenses of other wastewater treatment plants are being assessed and there is ongoing intervention by the Department to assist the municipalities experiencing challenges. The Department is aware that there are still areas (i.e. villages & some informal settlements) experiencing challenges with regard to basic sanitation services (pit latrines/bucket system) and the possible impact and threat they can pose to water resources if not well managed. Municipalities with challenges are being assisted to get access to the Municipal Infrastructure Grant to address sanitation needs.

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Reply:

(a) The most prevalent water weeds found in the Umdloti River are Water Lettuce and Hyacinth.

(b)  Upstream from the Hazelmere Dam the prevalence is negligible, whereas on the downstream portion the coverage of Water Lettuce is approximately 50% and that of Hyacinth is about 30%.

(c) The impact of the aquatic weed has very little to insignificant impact, especially since it is controlled.

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Reply:

(a) There are no bucket toilets located in the formal areas of each municipality in Gauteng.

(b) There are no bucket toilets located in the informal areas of each municipality in Gauteng. Informal areas utilise chemical toilets as a form of sanitation.

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Reply:

The City of Johannesburg is the Water Service Authority which provides services to the Eikenhof informal settlement in the southern part of Johannesburg. The City of Johannesburg through the Joburg Water is providing the following basic water and sanitation services:

• 6 Communal stand-pipes for water; and
• 500 Ventilated Improved Pit-latrines (VIP’s).

The City of Johannesburg/ Joburg Water has plans in place to install 400 VIP in the current 2015/16 financial year.

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Reply:

(1)(a) According to Census 2011, 11,9% of the population in Bushbuckridge had access to piped water in their dwellings, the remaining was supplied with water at Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) standard (i.e Boreholes/communal taps) and Water Carts.

(1)(b) A total of 24 villages have received water since the appointment of Rand Water.

(2) All projects which were implemented under Phase 1 to reticulate 24 villages in Bushbuckridge were completed.

(3) Initially, the scope of the work was under estimated, upon assessment and finalization of technical designs of the projects, it was discovered that bulk of the work was not included in the initial scope of the work, therefore additional budget was required to complete the projects.

(4) The intervention was initiated in the 2013/14 financial year, 24 villages were completed in the 2014/15 financial year and a further
15 villages are currently being reticulated.

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Reply:

(1)(a) My Department has opened a total of Sixty Seven (67) cases with the South African Police Service (SAPS) for contravening the National Water Act (Act no 36 of 1998) (NWA). (i), one (1) case was opened for not complying with water use authorizations and (ii) Fifty Eight (58) were cases opened for engaging in water uses without authorisation.

(1)(b) Below is the region and sector breakdown of criminal cases opened:

Criminal Cases Opened with SAPS
Region	Sectors
	Mining	Agriculture	Industries	Water Services Authorities	Tourism	Total
Eastern Cape	-	-	-	-	-	-
Free State	-	1	-	7	-	8
Gauteng	2	6	-	-	-	8
KwaZulu-Natal	10	-	1	-	-	11
Limpopo	-	1	-	-	-	1
Mpumalanga	9	14	3	1	1	28
North West	1	2	-	1	-	4
Northern Cape	4	-	-	-	-	4
Western Cape	-	-	2	1	-	3
Total	26	24	6	10	1	67

(2) The relevant Department to answer the question is the South African Police Service (SAPS).

 

(3) The relevant Department to answer the question is the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

(4) The relevant Department to answer the question is the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

(5)(a) The highest monetary fine was One Million Rand (R1 000 000.00) in 2013/2014.

(5)(b) No imprisonment was obtained for convictions for the offences of transgressions of the NWA.

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Reply:

(1)(a) Yes, there were contracts which were awarded without complying with Treasury Regulation 16A8.4 in 2013/2014.

(1)(b) None in 2014/2015.

(1)(b)(i) Four (4) Contracts were awarded.

(1)(b)(ii) Details of each contract awarded listed below:

Name of supplier	Description of Award
Mihle and Ayola General Trading CC	Supply of Material
TD New Look Construction	Supply of Material
Oratile Kgadi Trading CC	Supply of Material
Meondo Trading 392 CC	Repair and Services

(1)(b)(iii) These goods and services were not linked to specific projects but they were normal day to day operational activities.

(1)(b)(iv) The value of each award is indicated below on the amount column:

Name of supplier	Description of Award	Amount
Mihle and Ayola General Trading CC	Supply of Material	R18 724,50
TD New Look Construction	Supply of Material	R 8 669,00
Oratile Kgadi Trading CC	Supply of Material	R15 340,00
Meondo Trading 392 CC	Repair and Services	R 6 508,00

(2)(a) Yes, they were 3 employees who were implicated.

(2)(b) Letters were issued to the employees concerned. Employee Relations is in the process of drawing up the charges, this process will proceed in terms of the Labour Relations Act.

(2)(c) Measures have been put in place to stop the contravention of Treasury Regulations 16A8.4 where employees are disciplined for the transgression and an internal circular was circulated to all employees.

(3) Yes, measures have been put in place by means of an internal circular to all employees to stop the contravention of the specified Treasury Regulation.

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Reply:

(1)(a) PART A: WK Construction (company), PART B: Ascul Construction (company) and PART C: Murray and Dickson (company). In addition to these appointments in this project the following companies were appointed: Vuwani/Valdezia pipeline: Internal Department of Water and Sanitation Construction North, Design and construction monitoring: Bigen Africa Services (company), and Specialist Quality Control: QPI/TIS (company).

(1)(b) Refer to the table below for the scope of the work to be completed by the company:

Contract	Pipe Size	Chainages	Pipe Length
Part A WK Construction	800mm Ø	CH 1 326 to 11 460	10 134 m
Part B Ascul Construction	800mm Ø	CH 11 460 to 23 130	11 670 m
Part C Murray & Dickson	800mm Ø	CH 23 130 to 31 617	8 487 m
	900mm Ø	Valdezia Section	2 200 m

The supplying dam is Nandoni Dam. The Luvuvhu River Government Water Scheme will supply water for domestic use to the area between Makhado and Punda Maria in the Limpopo Province, to about 800 000 people (380 communities) with the potential of reaching 1.3 million people.

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(1)(c) The original completion date for Ascul Construction was 5 July 2013, however was further extended to 30 November 2013 with anticipated completion date for Part B being 31 March 2014. The last anticipated delivery date is 31 July 2015 as proposed by the project engineer design and construction monitoring engineer: Bigen Africa Services (company). With the Defect liability expected to start from August 2015 to 31 March 2016.

During the extension of the contract the original cost of the contract was not affected, as the extension was only for the duration of the contract. The project encountered some delays due to a number of reasons, including some financial difficulties by one of the companies; as a result, some sub-contractors withdrawing from site; inclement weather resulted in flooding of trenches and pipes and long delays were experienced to clean the pipes. Rainy conditions also prevented work and humid conditions prevented repair of linings and coatings, some land owners not allowing contractors into their land, strike action by communities, availability of water for hydraulic testing, pipeline deflection defects; delays in the supply of pipes and fittings; etc.

It is confirmed that construction progress is currently standing at 95% overall completion.

(2)(a) W0497-WTE: Levuvhu Rever GWS-Construction of the 800mm diameter Vuwanisteel pipeline was advertised on 01 February 2012 and closed on 01 March 2012.

(2)(b) The contract was awarded in March 2012 and the contract was signed by the representative of the Department on 20 April 2012 and by the Contractor on the 23 April 2012.

(3)(a) Refer to the table below for the value of the contract:

Contract	Pipe Size	Chainages	Pipe Length
Part A WK Construction	800mm Ø	CH 1 326 to 11 460	10 134 m
Part B Ascul Construction	800mm Ø	CH 11 460 to 23 130	11 670 m
Part C Murray & Dickson	800mm Ø	CH 23 130 to 31 617	8 487 m
	900mm Ø	Valdezia Section	2 200 m

(3)(b) Refer to the table below for the amount paid to the contracting company to date:

Contract	Pipe Size	Chainages	Pipe Length
Part A WK Construction	800mm Ø	CH 1 326 to 11 460	10 134 m
Part B Ascul Construction	800mm Ø	CH 11 460 to 23 130	11 670 m
Part C Murray & Dickson	800mm Ø	CH 23 130 to 31 617	8 487 m
	900mm Ø	Valdezia Section	2 200 m

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(4)(a) Refer to the table below for the amount of work that has been completed on the project:

Contract	Pipe Size	Chainages	Pipe Length	Percentage
Part A WK Construction	800mm Ø	CH 1 326 to 11 460	10 134 m	99%
Part B Ascul Construction	800mm Ø	CH 11 460 to 23 130	11 670 m	95%
Part C Murray & Dickson	800mm Ø	CH 23 130 to 31 617	8 487 m	99%
	900mm Ø	Valdezia Section	2 200 m

(4)(b) The construction progress is currently standing at 95% overall completion.

(4)(c) Contractor appointed will complete the project on 31 July 2015 with the Defect liability expected to start from August 2015 to 31 March 2016.

(5) Copies of the contracts as mentioned in (4)(a) are available for inspections.

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Reply:

1. The buckets in informal settlements are located in the provinces appearing in the table below. The Department is in a process to verifying and assessing all buckets in informal settlements by province and municipality. However it should be noted that with the proliferation of informal settlements, households utilizing the bucket toilets as a form of sanitation is a moving target hence backlog is not constant.

PROVINCE	NO OF SETTLEMENTS	NO OF HOUSEHOLDS
Eastern Cape	50	23 958
Western Cape	62	59 932
Gauteng	0	0
KwaZulu-Natal	0	0
Limpopo	0	0
Northern Cape	6	5 350
North West	21	4 150
Free State	75	46 758
Mpumalanga	3	600
TOTAL	217	140 748

(2) A preliminary figure is provided in the table above.

(3) The Department anticipates, subject to additional funding being made available that a further R4,3bn over the next 4 years will be required to address informal settlements.

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Reply:

(1) A study conducted in July 2012 suggested that the backlog for buckets in formal areas is estimated at 58 010; a substantial drop from the 88 127. The latter was further clarified in as far as the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro which had 19 444 buckets with an unsubstantiated claim of a further 100 buckets in the informal areas which was to be deducted from the 88 127. A second clarification came from the Free State Province in that the initial backlog was 42 815, however, after clarification reduced to 32 042 (a drop in 10 773), thus arriving at 57 910 in formal areas.

However, the Department has verified the buckets in formal areas which amount to 58 453.

(2) Refer to table below.

Province	Municipality	Project Name	Total
Eastern Cape	Makana	Grahamstown	737
	Makana 2	Grahamstown	288
	Sundays River Valley	Patterson	1245
	Baviaans	Steyterville	14
	Joe Ggabi	Steynburg	985
	Chris Hani	Indwe	89
	Ikhwezi	Jansenville	21
	Blue Crane	Somerset east	4
	Ndlambe	Nemato	2230
TOTAL			5613

Province	Municipality	Project Area	Total
Northern Cape	Dikgatlong	Proteahof	277
		Koopmansfontein	37
	Phokoane	Malelwane	85
	Ga-Segonyana	Bathlaros	498
	Emthanjeni	Britstown	424
	Thembelihle	Hopetown	52
	Tsantsabane	Maranteng	791
		Postdene	450
	KharaHais	Rosedale	2682
		Pabalello	533
		Louisvale	800
		DekotaWeg	306
		Kameelmond	122
		Kalksloot	138
	Renosterburg	PetrusvillePh 2	20
		Phillipstown	107
	Siyacuma	Breipal	282
		Bongani	555
		Bongani - Reservoir	49
		BonganiPhomolong	31
		Griekwastad	527
		Campbell	596
	Siyathemba	Marydale	175
	Sol Plaatjie	Ritchie	1345
		Freedom Park	167
		Promised Land	787
	Ubuntu	Victoria West	890
	Nama-Khoi	Various Sites	192
	Kai Garib	Various Sites	800
TOTAL			13 718

North West	City of Matlosana	Jouberton /Kanana	293
		Kanana	73
	LekwaTeemane	Boitumelong	230
TOTAL			596

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Province	Municipality	Project Area	Total
Free State	Mohokare	Smithfield	148
		Fauresmith	36
		Bethulie	23
		Trompsburg	149
		Zastron	90
		Rouxville	756
	Naledi	Dewetsdorp	191
	Dihlabeng LM	Rosendal	976
	Mantsopa LM	Tweespruit	1266
		Hobhouse	1224
	Phumelela LM	Memel	568
		Vrede	150
	Mafube LM	Cornelia	612
		Villiers	1056
		Frankfort	2105
		Tweeling	304
	Ngwathe LM	Heilbron	1584
		Vredefort	1120
	Nala LM	Wesselsbron	1800
	Masilonyana LM	Theunissen	1438
		Hennenman	2848
		Winburg	180
	Matjhabeng LM	Virginia	2240
	Matjhabeng LM	Odendaalsrus	264
	Tokologo LM	Hertzogville	294
	Setsoto LM	Marquard	1431
		Ficksburg	5396
		Senegal	2913
		Clocolan	3379
	Nketoana	PetrusSteyn	2424
		Lindley	517
		Arlington	210
		Reitz	834
TOTAL			38526

(3)(a) All buckets in the formal areas will be eradicated by end of the financial year.

(3)(b) The programme is estimated to cost R975 339 000,00.

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Reply:

1. According to the assessment of the condition of aquatic animals, there is a negative impact especially on the fish which is used as an indicator for monitoring of river health.

1. Yes, the Department is continuously taking action by conducting Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement of water users upstream of the Kruger National Park.

1. No, there is no specific or single company that can be attributed to the impact on aquatic ecosystems as they are also impacted by natural disasters such as the recent floods in the lower Olifants, which caused damage to habitats of the aquatic animals.

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Reply:

(1) My Department through the Enforcement Unit among other units ensures that all pollution cases reported are investigated and rectification measures are taken where non-compliance is detected.

In instances whereby pollution of a water resource is precisely detected to be occurring or might be occurring, my Department institutes administrative enforcement action prescript in Sections 19 and 20 of the National Water Act, 1998 (Act No. 36 of 1998) (NWA) with the objective of ensuring prevention and remedying effects of pollution and control of emergency incident.

My Department may lay criminal or civil charges against responsible person for unlawfully and intentionally or negligently committing any act or omission which pollutes or likely to pollute a water resource.

My Department also actively participates in the Inter-Departmental Enforcement Task Team comprising of the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) and Department of Minerals Resources (DMR) to ensure intensified collective approach against polluters.

(2) Further details cannot be furnished as it may prejudice the outcome of some administrative action and criminal prosecution taken by the Department, which is sub judice according to the National Prosecution Authority.

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Reply:

(1) The relevant details of outstanding water use licence applications (WULAs) in respect of each Province appear on Table 1 below.

Table 1: WULAs in process at the Department

Provincial Operation	Initial Assessment	Outstanding Information	Finalizing Assessment	Awaiting decision	Total
Eastern Cape	17	50	25	0	92
Free State	39	35	20	1	95
Gauteng	43	38	12	4	97
KwaZulu-Natal	6	33	10	0	49
Limpopo	52	24	125	0	201
Mpumalanga	266	30	31	1	328
Northern Cape	29	17	27	2	75
North West	123	38	40	0	201
Western Cape	121	10	57	0	188
Head Office	24	74	11	95	204
Total	720	349	358	103	1530

(2)(a) The year on which the application was made as depicted in Table 2 below.

Table 2: Year of application of water use licences in the Department

Provincial Operation	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	Total
Eastern Cape	0	11	8	26	30	17	92
Free State	0	16	16	22	41	0	95
Gauteng	3	12	23	15	43	1	97
KwaZulu-Natal	0	16	9	9	15	0	49
Limpopo	1	16	42	67	75	0	201
Mpumalanga	0	74	102	47	77	28	328
Northern Cape	0	2	13	23	28	9	75
North West	20	38	45	49	43	6	201
Western Cape	8	4	25	49	80	22	188
Head Office	96	67	27	13	1	0	204
Total	128	256	310	320	433	83	1530

(2)(b) Reasons for delays in water use licence applications are:

• Outstanding information from applicants, mainly in a form of technical on site studies.
• Complexity of applications and volumes of supporting documents.
• Internal specialist inputs are intensive and hence the turnaround time is protracted.

(2)(c) The expected dates of completion of the water use licence application.

Table 3: Expected dates of completion of the water use licence applications per category

Category	Number of WULAs	Expected date of completion
Initial Assessment	720	30-Mar-16
Outstanding Information	349	30-Dec-15
Finalizing Assessment	358	31-Oct-15
Await decision	103	30-Sep-15
Total	1530

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Reply:

1. The Sedibeng Regional Sanitation Scheme (SRSS) comprises construction upgrade of the following works:

• The Sebokeng Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) upgrade – construction started in August 2013, Progress for these works is at 35% complete on civil works;
• The Meyerton WWTW upgrade – construction started in March 2015 and construction work is progressing very well. Currently, progress for the civil contractor is around 8% complete; and
• The feasibility studies for the proposed 150 mega-litres Regional WWTW has started in April 2015 and expected to be completed by November 2015. The Implementation Readiness Studies and Preliminary designs are expected to be completed by April 2016.

(2)(a) The source of delays in the implementation of the entire SRSS were as a result of the change of the Implementation Agent (IA) from the Municipalities (Emfuleni and Midvaal LMs) to Rand Water and secondly, the legal process to cede the service providers from the LMs to Rand Water. However, some of the professional service providers ceding processes experienced legal changes, this involved the Supervising Engineer for the SRSS, which ended up at High Court and subsequently resolved in an out of court settlement.

 

(2)(b) All the legal processes have been completed and work is currently being undertaken as mentioned in paragraph 1 above.

(3)(a) The implementation of the SRSS will take between 5 to 7 years to complete.

(3)(b) Additional development in both Midvaal and Sebokeng will be connected to both Meyerton WWTW and Sebokeng WWTW, which are being upgraded. Outfall sewer lines are included as part of scope to connect new developments such as Savanna City.

(4) Rand Water is appointed as the IA by the Minister of Water and Sanitation.

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Reply:

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of Eskom Ingula Pumped Storage Scheme was the responsibility of Eskom and the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) participated therein. The Department is not aware of any significant impacts on Wilge and Vaal Rivers.

The resettlement of communities was also part of the same process and thus no undue impacts are anticipated.

The Department issued Water Use Licenses for the project and will continue to monitor compliance to the license conditions.

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Reply:

(a) Coal of Africa was not granted a water licence for its operations in the Makhado Local Municipality. Their water use licence (WUL) application is still being processed by the Department of Water and Sanitation.

(b)(i) Coal of Africa was granted a WUL for its operations in the Musina Local Municipality.

(b)(ii) The water use licence for Coal of Africa in respect of its operations in the Musina Local Municipality was granted on 29 March 2011. The water use licence was granted for a period of five years on the terms stipulated in WUL, which are confidential to the applicant. Coal of Africa plans to continue with the mine, consequently they have applied for another water use licence for the same area covered by the licence granted in 2011.

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Reply:

 

(a) The Department of Water and Sanitation had two employees whose contracts were paid out before the contractually stipulated date of termination amounting to R2 274 513.50 for the 2008-09 financial year.

(a)(ii) Payouts were made to NJ Ngele amounting to R2 251 602.00 and OO Ayaya amounting to R22 911.59.

(a)(iii) The reasons for the early terminations were: NJ Ngele - The employer paid the employee 24 months of the employee's salary as per settlement agreement; OO Ayaya - The employer discharged the employee from the Public Service. An amount of R22 911.59 in terms of leave discounting was paid to the employee.

(b) None of the entities reporting to me has paid out remainder of any employee’s contract for the 2008-09 financial year.

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Reply:

Yes, my Department is currently involved in a work employment agreement, deriving from a bilateral agreement that was reached between the Cuban and the South African Government. This agreement is part of the portfolio of cooperative agreements between the two countries. The agreement was signed on 9 September 2013 and its objective is to foster a technical development on water issues between the two countries.

(a) A total of 35 Cuban Engineers are (i) currently contracted with my Department for a period of two years, with a possibility of an extension to three years. (ii) Only one agreement has been concluded

(b) The Cuban secondment programme is meant to assist the Department of Water and Sanitation in the following mutually agreed areas:

• Hydraulic, Civil, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in the functional areas of the National Water Resources Infrastructure (NWRI) Operations Unit of the Department,
• The Geohydrological and Engineering Services in rural and other disadvantaged areas where such services are inadequate in areas of Regional Functions,
• The operations and maintenance of bulk raw water supply infrastructure,
• The capacity building through training and support of local staff,
• Augmenting project management capacity.

 

(c) The majority of the current employed 35 Cuban Specialists are qualified in Hydraulic Engineering, a field which is not offered in South Africa, and it emerged that this qualification is a specialty branch of Civil Engineering which focuses only on water engineering. Their field of specialization is therefore of great value to the Department in the field of Operations and maintenance. The rest of the Specialists are qualified in the fields of Mechanical, Civil, Electrical and hydro geological Engineering, and they are also adding value to the different functions within my Department.

(d) My Department proceeds to recruit local specialist to fill permanent positions as it was the case with the 13 Electrical and Mechanical engineering posts recently advertised. The Learning Academy also proceeds with the facilitation of developing local engineering skills at entry level. The table below indicates the number of posts in the Engineering field that were advertised but not filled during the 2013/2014 financial year:

 

Region/Branch	No of posts advertised per Region/ Branch	Reasons for not filling the posts
NWRI - Northern Operations	29	A very small number of applications were received per post, in some instances no applications were received per post. The applicants did not meet the minimum criteria of the posts. Applicants are only registered as Candidates and not Technicians or Professionals Head-hunting for suitable candidates also did not yield any results, as individuals are requesting higher remuneration packages that cannot be offered by the Public Service.
NWRI - Southern Operations	10
Branch: NWRI - Head Office	18
Branch: Policy and Regulation	17
KZN Region	18
Free State Region	10
Eastern Cape Region	9
Gauteng Region	3
Limpopo Region	12
Mpumalanga Region	12
Northern Cape Region	9
Western Cape Region	1
Total	148

(e)(i) The total cost of contracting is an all-inclusive package of R532 278 per Cuban Specialist per annum.

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Reply:

No generators were installed at any of my Department’s and Entities offices for load shedding purposes.

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Reply:

Yes. Cabinet has recently approved the Socio Economic Impact Assessment System (SEIAS) which is effective from 1 June 2015. The SEIAS requires that government departments must, before developing any policy, regulations and legislation, ensure that they take steps to minimize the unintended consequences of such policy, regulations and legislation, including unnecessary costs of implementation and compliance. The SEIAS further requires government departments to anticipate implementation risks and develop measures to mitigate such risks.

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Reply:

Requesting that the Honorable Member to refer to the response to NA 1305.

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Reply:

1. The Department does not currently monitor Barberspan or Chrissiesmeer for cyanobacteria, as they do not form part of the National Eutrophication Monitoring Programme (focused on dams). Both Barberspan and Chrissiesmeer are viewed as wetlands and will form part of the National Wetlands Monitoring Programme, which is currently being designed and will be implemented in 2016. For the other dams, the most recently available cyanobacterial counts are listed in the table below:

Dam	Cyanobacterial count (cells/ml) (including Anabeana, Arthrospira, Cylindrospermopsis, Lyngbya, Merismopedia, Microcystis and Oscillatoria
Hartbeespoort	22 342
Vaal	33 524
Spitskop	7 851
Koppies	Not available

2. Results can be provided for all the dams since 2011 as requested, except Barberspan and Chrissiesmeer. The data information can be viewed on the Directorate’s website - https://www.dwa.gov.za/iwqs.

3. Addressing cyanobacteria in dams requires a multidisciplinary approach with its foundation in catchment management.  Nutrient loading resulting from run-off in catchment where the dam is located, is the main reason for cyanobacterial blooms.

This loading takes place as a result of, inter alia, overloaded and / or dysfunctional waste water treatment works and agricultural run-off. DWS addresses this through collaboration with and guidance to local authorities, whom is responsible for operating these waste water treatment works.  The Green Drop project is an example of this, where the efficient operation of wastewater treatment works by municipalities is audited and scored.  Based on the outcome of this evaluation, guidance is provided by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) to municipalities to assist them with adhering to the license conditions of the waste water treatment works. 

The DWS has also recently acquired the services of Cuban engineers to assist local municipalities with the improved operation of their waste water treatment works.

The Department developed a set of guidelines for eutrophication management, including best agricultural practices which, if implemented by farmers, will reduce the nutrient loading resulting from agricultural run-off.

A specific project on the Hartbeespoort Dam to address the water quality remediation, which includes the treatment of cyanobacterial blooms, is the Metsi a Me project.  This is a multidisciplinary project which addresses the remediation of dam specific water quality.

There is currently no similar scale projects on the other dams mentioned in the question, as these dams’ issues are addressed on a catchment base.

(4)    Cyanobacteria, when present in high numbers in the water column, and under conducive environmental conditions, can release a toxin, microcystin, which could pose a health risk if untreated water is consumed by humans and animals.  In addition, when the algal blooms die off and decompose, it can result in unpleasant smells, impacting on recreational users.                                        

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Reply:

(1) The Department of Water and Sanitation had no previous engagements with the City of Tshwane regarding health, safety or environmental risk of a dam in Midas.

(2) No complaints about the query have been received by my Department and no health and safety assessment was therefore planned.

(3) Yes, my Department has engaged with the City of Tshwane municipality regarding this issue and met incidentally with a community leader on 18 June 2015 during the site visit. According to the representative of the community, they get their services from the City of Tshwane. Madibeng Municipality will also be approached through my sector support unit to address the matter further.

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Reply:

Requesting the Honourable Member to refer to the response in NA 1128 published on 26 March 2015.

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Reply:

Yes, there is a plan to cater for the annual shortfall of R35 billion.

1.  As part of the development of the Water Sector Infrastructure Investment Framework in 2012, the Department developed a first order Water Financing Strategy published on 5 June 2012.

2.   In addition, my department has thus far successfully negotiated major increases in the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) and the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant (RBIG), the establishment of a new Municipal Water Infrastructure Grant (MWIG), as well as major increases in the Water Board’s infrastructure investment budgets. This was done in collaboration with the National Treasury as well as the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, with the aim of increasing budgeting for especially municipal infrastructure operations and maintenance (O&M), addressing aged infrastructure, rehabilitation, and infrastructure replacement.

3.  Partnerships with Financial Institutions and the broader private sector are also vigorously pursued.

4.  As a result of financial constraints, there will be on-going prioritization of water supply areas to identify and sequence projects that offer the best economic and social returns and are addressing the most critical security of supply challenges.

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Reply:

(1)(a) Refer to table below regarding the nine municipalities affected by drought in KZN:

No.	Name of Municipality	Business Plan	Funding agreement	Amount received to date
1	Umzinyathi District Municipality	Approved	Approved	R1 782 836.47
2	Umkhanyakude District Municipality	Approved	Approved	R6 321 734.42
3	Uthukela District Municipality	Received and pending approval	Received and pending approval	None
4	Ugu District Municipality	Approved	Approved	None
6	Zululand District Municipality	Approved	Approved	None
7	UguDistrict Municipality	Approved	Approved	None
8	IlembeDistrict Municipality	Approved	Approved	None
9	Harry Gwala	Approved	Approved	None

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