Questions and Replies

Reply:

(1) The Department of Water and Sanitation’s (DWS) 2022 Green Drop Report provided a detailed overview of the state of wastewater management in the country. The findings of the report presented a concerning trend across the country which showed that wastewater management has deteriorated notably since 2014.

Water Service Authorities responsible for wastewater collection and treatment systems that achieved less than 30% during Green Drop Assessment were issued with non-compliance letters and instructed to submit corrective action plans. Implementation of the corrective measures will be monitored through a dashboard developed as part of the Water Services Improvement Programme (WSIP). The Department has also collaborated with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) to assist municipalities on the development of these action plans, to ensure improvement in the management of wastewater treatment plants. The DWS and SALGA have also rolled out the water and sanitation councillor induction across the country on wastewater quality management and drinking water management.

The DWS, in collaboration with the SALGA, has also taken steps to support Water Service Authorities through:

• Capacitating the Water and Sanitation portfolio-based councillors throughout their term of office.
• Training of Process Controllers to augment wastewater operations and maintenance capacity. Energy and Water Sector Training Authority (EWSETA) will facilitate the training so that it complies with Wastewater Quality Management regulations.
• Ensuring that all wastewater management environmental hazards are mapped and mitigated

(2) The Department ensures protection of water resources by serving suspected transgressors or polluters with notices and directives in accordance with the provisions of the National Water Act (Act 36 of 1998) (NWA). These notices and directives instruct the identified transgressors to make representations, which may take the form of action plans in other instances. The representations are then submitted to the Department to assess and advise on the implementation thereof. The Department then monitors implementation of the action plans and adherence to the timeframes committed to control the causes of pollution and remedy effects thereof.

The Department may also lay criminal charges against polluters liable for offenses stipulated under Section 151 of the NWA, where the outcome is a fine imposed against an offender or institute civil action by applying for a court interdicts against polluters. The court may, upon examining the application, issue an order the polluter to take remedial action.

Since January 2020, the Department has taken administrative enforcement action by issuing 374 notices and directives under sections 19, 20, and 53 of the National Water Act (NWA).

The Department has also pursued criminal action against 13 water users found to have caused pollution of water resources. To date, 9 case dockets were finalized and handed to the NPA for a decision to prosecute whereas 2 plea sentencing agreements were reached where the court-imposed fines against the municipalities. Additionally, the Department initiated 3 court interdict applications against water users found to have caused pollution of water resources, and 1 court order was granted in this regard.

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Reply:

1. No, my department is not aware of any complaints pertaining to dangerous mining chemicals polluting a water stream and the environment in the Wonderfontein Catchment Area. However, there are various platforms available to report such incidents through the DWS Hotline 0800 200 200 or via email: [email protected] or directly to officials (whose contact details are also on the internet webpage under customer care www.dws.gov.za responsible for the catchment area). Specific details pertaining to this question will be appreciated and investigated once received.

2. No, my department is not aware of any allegations that some government officials and politicians are colluding with mining bosses to pollute waterways. However, should there be such allegations, they must be reported to enable the department to investigate.

3. No, there is currently no official of my departmental being investigated regarding allegations of collusion with mining bosses.

4. Current routine monitoring results do not indicate any pollution incidents in this area. Anomalies detected in water quality would normally also be relayed to the local municipality so that the information is publicised through local radio stations and newspapers if necessary.

The JB Marks Local Municipality (under which the towns of Potchefstroom and Ventersdorp falls) implements a Water Safety Plan, which is aimed at identification and prioritisation of risks associated with water supply. In line with this plan, the municipality identifies risks associated and encountered at the catchment, treatment and distribution network and employ mitigation measures to ensure water supplied is safe for human consumption. The municipality has reported that it has not detected any irregularities in the catchment.

Areas under the jurisdiction of JB Marks Local Municipality receive treated water with a microbiological compliance for the year to date at 94.5% (when measured against SANS241 limits).

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Reply:

1. The details for boreholes in the Dr Beyers Naudé Local Municipality are indicated in the table below:

2. The telemetry system is only functional in Graaff-Reinet. The municipality has plans in place to install / upgrade telemetry in all the other towns. The department has been informed that the plans to install or upgrade telemetry systems are dependent on budget availability in the 2023/24 financial year. Non-revenue water, is currently at 37% due to:

• non-payment by users for water
• incorrect metering
• no metering (unmetered connections),
• unforeseen pipe bursts, illegal connections
• real water losses.

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Reply:

a)  There are no recent complaints regarding potable water quality that were received by the Department of Water and Sanitation from the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality. All previously reported cases were closed after the municipality implemented corrective measures to address the reported complaints.

b) The Department received complaints regarding poor water quality in Emalahleni Local Municipality and has initiated an investigation. The findings of the investigation were that some of the mines were discharging non-compliant water into the water streams or systems. The Department issued notices of intention to issue directives on 17th February 2023, through the provisions of Section 19 of National Water Act to the mines. These mining companies were given until the end of April 2023 to implement corrective measures. Failure to comply and submit these to the Department will result in the Department issuing a Directive.

(i) The Department has assisted the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality with funding under Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant (RBIG) for the refurbishment and upgrading of the Vaalbank Water Treatment Works to improve process performance and ensure acceptable drinking water quality. The construction of the 20Ml/d reverse osmosis plant and a filter system to reduce turbidity and sulphate concentration is underway. The project is due to be completed in November 2023.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the Department is currently conducting a feasibility study to investigate the provision of bulk water supply for the Emalahleni Local Municipality that is aimed at identifying and developing alternative solutions to address the bulk water supply infrastructure deficiencies. Construction is planned to commence in 2024.

(ii) In addition, the Department also rendered financial support for the two municipalities as indicated in the table below:

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Reply:

Civil engineering designs for water storage infrastructure i.e. Dam Walls, are designed for a safety evaluation flood (SCF) of 1:10 000 year flood conditions to ensure that the structural integrity of the wall would not be compromised by forces anticipated to be associated with such conditions. In addition, the Department is also prohibiting the erection of permanent structures within the 1:100 flood line adjacent to the full supply level of a dam and rivers as a means to safeguard life and livelihood. Wherever water conveyance structures (i.e. large pipe-lines and canals) are elevated and exposed at stream or river crossings, the bridge structure is designed to withstand 1:100 year flood conditions.

The Department takes note of the impact the intense flooding had on trenched pipe-lines during the 2022 floods and will work with research institutions to consider an amendment to engineering design factors, as influenced by climate change.

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Reply:

a) The Department has put in place internal control processes to continuously curb underspending including:

• Increased focus on forecast controls over expenditure commitments for projects in year and over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework to mitigate risks of under expenditure.
• Stringent expenditure controls for sound financial management principles, ensuring that public resources are utilized efficiently; incurred obligations are cleared in a timely manner; and abuse/misappropriation of public money is prevented.
• Collaborative service delivery implementation plans with capacity building initiatives are also being implemented with diverse stakeholders within the water sector including Water Boards, Municipalities, Provincial Governments, Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and National Treasury.
• Regular monitoring of progress and management of areas of underperformance to proactively redirect funds to projects with capacity to absorb additional budgets.
• The Department is implementing the Infrastructure Procurement Strategy and Policies.

b) The following have been identified as root causes of underspending:

• Lack of financial governance skills amongst Water Service Authorities
• Inadequate project management capacity by Implementing Agents resulting in under-expenditure
• Court Judgement issued on 25 February 2022, which prohibited advertising of new bids for goods and services and impacted on capital expenditure for major and mega projects
• Complex public procurement system that contributed to delays in the procurement of goods and services

Implementation of these interventions by the Department has resulted in significant improvements from the last financial year expenditure to the year-to-date expenditure.

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Reply:

a)  To address governance challenges among Water Boards and enhance the role that these entities will be playing to enhance service delivery at local government level; the Department has reviewed the Water Boards in terms of financial sustainability, governance matters and extending services to areas that are not currently serviced. The review and reconfiguration of Water Boards is intended to achieve the following:

• Better economies of scale
• Enhance market capitalisation for infrastructure projects
• Increase water access to un-serviced rural areas
• Enable better cross-subsidisation and increased financial sustainability
• Facilitate differential service delivery levels and tariff modelling across the province
• Enable better working relationships with provincial governments - there has been a general effort to align water boards boundaries with provincial boundaries
• Enable Water Boards to better support Water Services Authorities (WSAs).

b) It should also be noted that non-payment of Water Boards by municipalities threatens financial viability of Water Boards. To address this, the Department of Water and Sanitation in collaboration with National Treasury has put in place the following measures to strengthen billing and revenue collection and address the escalating debt of municipalities to water entities:

• The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) will collaborate with National Treasury to ensure that equitable share allocations are withheld from non-paying municipalities.
• DWS will ensure that standardised credit control and debt recovery processes is in place across all the water boards. This includes consistent enforcement of water limitations/restrictions on non-paying municipalities and legal processes to attach municipal bank accounts where necessary.
• Bulk prepaid meters will be installed by water boards in municipalities with a poor payment record.
• The Minister is further consulting the 144 Water Services Authorities on the outcome of the above-mentioned workshop.

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Reply:

a)  The Department carries out its regulatory function through its Dam Safety Office, which reported to Parliament that of the top 20 largest state dams, only 2 complied 100% with Dam Safety Regulations. The Department’s presentation to Parliament indicated that the shortcoming which was identified by the Dam Safety Office which prevented the other dams from being 100% compliant with the Dam Safety Regulations was that the required five- yearly dam safety evaluations were overdue.

Five-year Dam Safety Evaluations are required to be conducted by an Approved Professional Person (APP). These five-year evaluations are over and above the quarterly and annual inspections conducted by the Department’s operational engineering staff. There is a shortage of APPs in the Department, and this has led to the Department falling behind with its five- yearly dam safety evaluations.

The Department is in the process of finalising the appointment of a panel of Approved Professional Persons (APPs) which will assist to complete and review all required dam safety evaluation reports.

The department has prioritised 18 of the 20 largest dams to have compliant dam safety evaluation reports. with the intension to have the compliance issue resolved by the end of fourth quarter 2022/23 financial year. Unfortunately, contractual negotiations took longer than anticipated, implying that 25% of the largest 20 state dams will be achieved within this timeframe, and the remaining 75% by May 2023. With this additional professional engineering capacity, all outstanding and due dam safety evaluation reports will be completed within the next 18 months.

Even though there are inherent risks to not submitting 5 yearly dam safety evaluations reports on time, it does not necessarily equate to the dams being unsafe, since there are various systems and mechanisms in place to monitor the structural health and performance of our dams. These include routing inspections by dam operators and the monitoring of our dam’s behaviour by Dam Safety Surveillance through various instrumentations, some of which are communicating this data in real-time. All these measures are preventative in nature (serves as early warning) and are aimed at safeguarding our dam infrastructure as well as the public from potential harm.

In addition to general maintenance, the Department also implements a Dam Safety Rehabilitation programme which was established in 2006 to ensure that the lifespan of dam structures is prolonged and to improve the safety of these structures. Since its inception, rehabilitation projects at 43 dams have been completed. Currently, there are 6 dam safety rehabilitation projects underway with 19 projects in the design phase.

(b) The Department is finalising dam safety evaluation reports per dam, and not in consolidated fashion, because the due dates for these reports are staggard and not all due on the same date.

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Reply:

a)  The delays in the completion of Phase 2 upgrade of James Kleynhans Water Treatment Works (WTW’s) are due to the following:

• The Covid 19 hard lockdown resulted in work stoppages and revised health and safety measures that needed to be implemented
• The lockdowns also brought about increases in costs of various materials and equipment for the project
• The contractor initially appointed experienced financial difficulties which slowed progress of activities and ultimately liquidation of the company which resulted in the contract being terminated.

• Procurement processes to appoint a new contractor were also delayed as the advertisement of the tender had to be repeated due to unresponsive bids during the first round.

The contractor was eventually appointed and the has been on site since January 2023.

b) The Department is closely monitoring the turnaround plan of the Amatola Water Board and the municipality convenes monthly progress meetings.

c) Any further delays in completing water infrastructure projects may result in water shortages in cities and towns as the ageing Water Treatment Works may eventually not be able to meet the increased demands for water.

d) An estimated amount of R88,4 million is required to complete Phase 2 of the project by December 2023.

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Reply:

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has drilled a total number of 4 boreholes during the 2018/19 financial year funded by Water Services Infrastructure Grant (WSIG) as indicated below:

• Steenbok 1
• Mangweni 1
• Boschfontein 1
• Gomora 1

The DWS provided financial support through the WSIG to the Nkomazi Municipality for water reticulation projects to the areas of Madadeni and Magogeni in the municipality.

The DWS is also providing financial support to the municipality through the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant (RBIG) for the implementation of the Sibange and the Driekoppies Regional Water Supply projects to improve water supply in the Nkomazi Municipality.

Reply:

The Matjhabeng Local Municipality (LM) has challenges of aged and dilapidated infrastructure leading to frequent pipe bursts which contribute to high water losses and reduced pressure in the reticulation system. The municipality is estimated to be losing more than 56% of clean water due to the frequent pipe bursts and aged infrastructure. The municipality is further challenged by a high percentage of non-revenue water which contributes to financial losses for the municipality.

To deal with the challenges indicated above, the Matjhabeng LM has compiled a business plan for replacement of old asbestos and old galvanized pipes with an estimated cost of R1,4billion. The plan was submitted to the Infrastructure South Africa (ISA). However, the municipality was also advised to submit a business plan to the Department of Water and Sanitation for implementation of water conservation and water demand management while awaiting the response from ISA. Should funding for the business plan be secured, implementation of this business plan would reduce the high water losses and improve water supply to the consumers.

To further remedy the challenges relating to water losses and non-revenue water the following interventions are being implemented by the municipality:

• Procurement of over six thousand (6,000) water meters in the 2022/2023 FY to start addressing the issue of unmetered consumers and to improve on revenue collection.
• Appointment of qualified Civil Engineers, Technologists, Technicians and thirty (30) qualified artisan plumbers and
• Purchasing of four (4) new heavy equipment vehicles (TLBs) to assist in water network maintenance and pipe bursts.
• In the 2023/2024 FY, the technical service will run the following water business programmes:
  • Pressure management to reduce pipe bursts and water losses
  • Non-Revenue Water Management to reduce water loses and improve revenue collection
  • Installation of the SCADA System to measure and monitor water losses in the reticulation system
  • Active leak detections to locate invisible pipe bursts
• The municipality will also appoint a suitable Professional Services Provider (PSP) to develop a Water Demand and Water Conservation Management (WDWCM) Strategy as a fundamental step in promoting water use efficiency and to be compliant with both the Water Services Act and the National Water Act, Act 36 0f 1998, which together emphasizes effective management of water resources and supply services.

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Reply:

The Department of Water and Sanitation has encountered challenges with business forums that demand 30% of funds allocated for Regional Bulk infrastructure Grant (RBIG) and Water Services Infrastructure Grant (WSIG) projects be allocated to them.

The DWS through project steering committees, engages business forums to find amicable solutions to address contract management matters. This is spearheaded by different implementing agents and supported by the Ministry, and senior officials of the Department. Where necessary, the Department will request police protection for its staff, and/or provide private security protection.

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Reply:

a) The department has not entered into any Private Public Partnerships (PPP) as defined by the PFMA and Treasury Regulations to date.

b) The department has, however, signed an agreement with the Commercial Mining Sector to jointly fund the Olifants Management Model (OMM) on a 50:50 basis. This is part of an innovative drive to collaborate with the private sector to fund public infrastructure to the benefit of all water users within a government water scheme. The Olifants River Water Resource Development Project (ORWRDP) experienced delays due to public funding constraints. and This collaboration has allowed the department to fast-track the construction of bulk and reticulation water infrastructure to supply the communities and mines by 2030. This R25 billion project started in November 2022 and is targeted for completion in 2030. The Lebalelo Water User Association is the Implementing Agent for the project. Similar collaborations are being explored in anticipation of similar benefits in other areas of the country, where local economic drivers could mutually benefit water services to local communities.

Reply:

a)  The total number of licences issued to historically disadvantaged persons and communities is as follows:

b) KwaZulu-Natal province is where the highest number of licences were issued to Historically Disadvantaged Individuals.

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Reply:

In the Free State there are 10 202 buckets that are still to be eradicated. Contractors were appointed for the remaining seven (7) projects and contractors are currently on site. Several sections of the outfall sewer line have been completed whilst others are in progress. Work on the construction of pumpstations in the respective projects has also commenced.

Whilst the challenges are common in most projects, the Free State Bucket Eradication Programme experienced the following:

• Delays with procurement for goods and services for its Construction Unit. The Department is in the process of addressing this by putting in place a new Infrastructure Procurement Policy and Strategy.
• Interruptions by Local Business Forums demanding to be given a greater share of the work.
• Local labour disputes
• Contractual disputes between the main contractors and their subcontractors which have caused delays.
• Some projects encountered unexpected high-water tables, which resulted in a need to pump out water before work could proceed.
• Poor soil conditions requiring changes to the designs mid-construction.
• Some projects cannot be completed because the wastewater treatment works are not yet ready (in terms of functionality or capacity to receive the additional sewage). Efforts to address the Wastewater Treatment Works are underway through either procurement (Senekal) or Conditional Assessments (through DWS) to determine the extent of the work to be done on each plant. Such projects will be packaged independently for implementation.

In the Northern Cape, a new procurement process has ensued and the procurement process including the appointment of a contractor is expected to be completed by April 2023.

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Reply:

Ahead of the opening of two more gates at Vaal Dam, warnings were issued to the public through various media platforms and an official media statement issued by the department.

a) Development of a flood preparedness plan takes place every year before the rainy season. The implementation of flood monitoring and forecasting systems is a continuous process that the department uses to monitor the state of water flow in the rivers. This ultimately informs decision making regarding issuance of early warnings and opening of flood gates whenever necessary.

b) The alarm measures implemented and exposed to the communities around the dam include issuing of official media statements, dam operators post warnings in social media groups of exposed communities about impending flood control releases and the inevitable increase of water levels downstream.

This ensures that these warnings reach communities swiftly once decisions to release water are confirmed to allow sufficient lead time to react to the interventions.

Reply:

1. Cabinet approved the publishing of the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA) Bill for public comment for a period of ninety days on 17 August 2022. The NWRIA Bill was published on 16 September 2022 in the Government Gazette notice: 46917 p137, for a period of ninety days which concluded on 16 December 2022. During the ninety days period, the department embarked on an extensive consultation process to solicit comments on the Bill from its various stakeholders.

The period for consultation has been formally extended in the government gazette notice: 48017 p43 published on 10 February 2023, which period will conclude on 17 March 2023. The reason for the extension is to ensure a comprehensive consultation process, by providing the primary creditors of the Trans- Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) with an independent legal and financial opinion on the terms of the loans agreements currently entered with the TCTA in relation to the provisions of the Bill and to allow for the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC’s) chamber to appoint a task team that will be consider the Bill.

2. It is the intention of the Minister of Water and Sanitation, to have the Bill processed before the end of the sixth Parliament.

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Reply:

MINISTER OF WATER AND SANITATION

1. The Minister of Water and Sanitation published the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency Bill on 16 September 2022 in Government Gazette notice: 46917 p137, for a period of 90 days which concluded on 16 December 2022. During the 90-day period, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) embarked on an extensive consultation process to solicit comments on the Bill from its various stakeholders. The comments received to date have been found favourable and supportive towards the establishment of the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency, as an institution proposed in the Bill.

The period for consultation has been formally extended in government gazette notice: 48017 p43 published 10 February 2023, which period will conclude on 17 March 2023. The reason for the extension of the consultation period to is to ensure a comprehensive all-inclusive consultation process, by providing the primary creditors of the Trans- Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) with an independent legal and financial opinion on the terms of the loans agreements currently entered with the TCTA in relation to the provisions of the Bill and also to allow for the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC’s) Development chamber to appoint a task team that will be considering the Bill.

2. Yes, the National Economic Development and Labour Council’s Development Chamber was consulted on 12 December 2022. The NEDLAC’s Development chamber is expected to appoint a task team to further consider the Bill.

Reply:

The Department of Water and Sanitation is aware of the allegations and referred the matter to the Internal Audit Unit for investigation.

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Reply:

1.  The properties within the dam boundary line of the Hartbeespoort Dam were incorrectly vested in the name of the North West Province, and the province entered into long term lease agreements with an option to purchase the land with third parties around the dam. The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) had the properties vested nationally and instructed the province to cancel the lease agreements they concluded on national land under the DWS’ custodianship. The department developed a lease policy which was approved in April 2020. This policy guides the department when entering into lease agreements with third parties already occupying State land as well as new applicants from previously disadvantage groups.

The department has already commenced with the process to advertise all available State land under DWS custodianship for grazing and recreational purposes. The land will be leased at a market related rental determined by a Professional Valuer and guided by Treasury Regulations. The department has already identified three dams as pilot projects to advertise land at Van der Kloof Dam, Tant Malie at Hartbeespoort Dam and Lakeside in Potchefstroom.

2. (a)The department has signed lease agreements with 4 lessees and 1 permission to occupy as outlined in table below:

(c) All rental values were determined by a Professional Registered Valuer appointed in 2020/21 in terms of market related prices for each portion of land, taking into consideration the activities of the applicant and the land.

3. The contracts state what these properties may be used for, as well as the procedure for development of the property.

4. All contracts have lapsed except for the 5 mentioned in 2 (b) above. The process for considering new applicants is ongoing and the Department intends to finalize the current lease applications by end of 2023.

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Reply:

The Department currently has 14 large water projects running across different provinces. A total of 10 infrastructure projects are under planning, whilst 4 are in construction phase. In terms of progress, 11 projects are behind schedule. Details are tabulated below:

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Reply:

(i)  The department is mainstreaming climate change and response into planning (project design), implementation, and management of water resources. The implementation of climate risk assessment and management is done through systematically assessing, addressing, and adaptively managing climate risks in new strategies, projects, and activities, thus facilitating climate resilience to both prevailing and projected future climates. This is guided by the Water and Sanitation Sector Policy which sets out principles that strive to strengthen the effective protection, conservation, and management of water resources against the impacts of climate change.

Further, the Department has and is continuously mainstreaming climate change risk and vulnerabilities, and climate responses (adaptation) into its strategies and operations such as Climate Change Response Strategy, National Water Resource Strategy-3, among others. The Department is in its final stages of updating its climate change strategy for the water and sanitation sector, this will ensure that the adaptation and responses (including updating of risk and vulnerability assessments) developed are informed by the latest and refined Global Climate Models.

(ii) The department is responsible for the development and implementation of legislation and regulatory tools to ensure that water resources are protected.

The National Water Act 36 of 1998, requires water use activities emanating from water users to be authorised. The authorization conditions imposed to users involve ensuring that negative impacts of such activities on water resources are assessed, prevented or minimised.

The quality of the water resources is also monitored through various national and regional monitoring programs to determine the status of our water resources and to ensure pollution is identified and mitigated timeously.

Compliance to the above regulatory conditions is monitored and enforced through the National Water Act 36 of 1998. During the 2021/2022 financial year, 182 pollution cases were reported to the Department which translated to 142 administrative enforcement actions and 3 criminal cases referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). A total of 40 cases were closed as they had complied with legislative requirements.

In November 2019, the Department formally established the Anti-Pollution Task Team (APTT), with the aim of identifying and assessing risks that can cause pollution in water resources and finding remedies to mitigate pollution impacts on water. Some of the key tasks of the APTT are:

• development and implementation of anti-pollution management protocols and interface with other institutions (such as law enforcement agents) to ensure that polluters are brought to book,
• monitoring and implementation of the Integrated Water Quality Management Strategy (IWQMS) of 2017, which sets out strategic actions that are required to be undertaken to realise the vision and goals of water quality in South Africa,
• support and monitoring of the implementation of existing departmental functions dealing with pollution matters and improving water quality.

With support and interface with other law enforcement agencies, the department continues to implement enforcement action against polluters to ensure our water resources are protected.

(b) Other relevant steps taken by the department in these regards include:

• Continuous research in collaboration with the Water Research Commission (WRC)
• Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) monitoring and comparative analysis programs
• Participation in international water related events like the World Water Week in Stockholm and the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) conferences

The aim of taking these steps is to ensure that the department has good exposure to relevant and new technologies and innovations for water resources management in general.

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Reply:

a) The total cost of intervention projects is R4.5 billion to date. The cost for the intervention in the Mkhanyakude District Municipality is yet to be confirmed once all the planning has been finalised. The details for other interventions implemented since 2020/21 by the department is indicated below:

b) Municipalities are responsible for acting against their personnel. The department has put measures in place to ensure that interventions are implemented effectively and efficiently. Some of the Water Boards such as Umgeni water and Lepelle Northern Water have been appointed to ensure that interventions are implemented in accordance with intended outcomes. The department is continuously monitoring the progress of the implementation and the impact thereof.

Furthermore, the Department ensures the protection of water resources by serving suspected transgressors or municipalities with Notices and Directives in accordance with the provisions of the National Water Act (Act 36 of 1998) (NWA). This is to compel responsible municipalities to take rectification measures on non-compliance cases identified. These Notices and Directives instruct the identified transgressors to make representations, which may take the form of action plans in other instances. Subsequently, the Department assess the representations submitted and advise on the implementation thereof. The Department then monitors implementation of the action plans and ensure adherence to the timeframes committed in order to control the causes of pollution and remedy effects thereof.

Lastly, the Department may institute criminal charges aimed at holding a municipality liable for offenses stipulated under Section 151 of the NWA, whereby fines or imprisonment may be imposed against an offender. The Department may also institute civil action by applying for a court interdict against a municipality. The court may then order the municipality to take remedial action through a Court Order.

The table below depitcs administrative, criminal and civil actions taken to protect water resources against municipalities found to have contravened the provisions of the National Water Act.

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Reply:

In response to the release of the Green Drop report for 2022, the department issued non-compliance letters to all Water Services Institutions (WSIs) with wastewater systems at critical state (achieved GD score of less than 31%). The non-compliance letters required the WSIs to develop the corrective action plan that will address the issues as identified on the 2022 report.

The department also engaged Local Municipalities within the Mpumalanga province on numerous occasions on the Green Drop (GD) 2022 report findings. This was meant to:

• Encourage those municipalities with wastewater systems that were found to be in a critical state to develop the corrective action plans
• Advise on best practices for wastewater management to improve performance

The department also provided training that was attended by all WSAs in MP to guide, improve and enhance the performance of the WSAs regarding management of the water and wastewater systems. In addition, a working session was held with all the municipal councillors to discuss the outcomes of the GD/BD reports and the poor performance of water & wastewater systems within the province. A commitment to support the GD/BD programme to ensure compliance was made on the date of the session.

The department, in collaboration with provincial Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) departments, District Municipalities and South African Local Government Association (SALGA), continues to strengthen engagements with municipalities to ensure that the WSAs manage water and wastewater systems in a sustainable way to protect the water resources and improve service delivery to the communities.

A Water Service Task Team has been established with all WSAs in Mpumalanga Province to address several critical factors caused by lack of capability to manage, operate, and maintain infrastructure. Other critical matters to be addressed by the Task Team include the following:

• • Financial planning, budgeting, and expenditure
• Procurement processes
• Lack of preventative maintenance
• Poor capacity management
• Poor effluent quality

Furthermore, the department continues to monitor the performance of all water/wastewater systems within the province annually to ensure compliance with the Water Services Act and National Water Act. When there are failures to comply with the requirements of legislation, the department is compelled to initiate enforcement action against the WSAs.

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Reply:

a) The salary scales for top executives within entities of the Department of Water and Sanitation are as follows:

b) None of the entities mentioned above pay any of the executives for attending meeting outside of their all-inclusive benefits.

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Reply:

The department intervened in nine district and local municipalities since 1 January 2020, details as follows:

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Reply:

a) The Department of Water and Sanitation issued a directive to Jagersfontein Developments (Pty) Ltd on 12 September 2022, in terms section 20 (4) of the National Water Act (NWA), 1998 (Act No. 36 of 1998), relating to control of emergency incidents. Amongst other issues, the directive requested rehabilitation of all the affected areas from the Wolwas dam in the Proses Spruit and from the dam downstream towards the confluence of the Proses Spruit and Kromellenboog, downstream to the confluence of the Kromellenboog and Riet Rivers and into the Kalkfontein Dam.

Jagersfontein Developments (JD) has since submitted the incident and rehabilitation plans to DWS which were evaluated and sent back for corrections and improvements in October 2022. The rehabilitation action plan was resubmitted to DWS in December 2022 and DWS has provisionally accepted the plan with the view that the updated plan will be submitted after the appointment of additional specialists as stated in the response submitted in December 2022 by JD. The DWS is continuing to monitor progress regarding the implementation of the rehabilitation plan which has already commenced.

Further to that, the department has opened a criminal case with the Jagersfontein South African Police Services (SAPS) against the owners of Jagersfontein Mine, Jagersfontein Development, for possible contraventions of Section 151(1) (f) & (i) read with Section 1 and 151(2) of the NWA. The DWS is also in the process of appointing a panel of tailings experts to carry out an independent forensic investigation on the causes of failure of the tailings storage facility (TSF). The final report of the forensic investigation will be made available to Parliament.

b) The Department issued a Dam Safety directive in terms of section 118 of the NWA, compelling Jagersfontein Development (JD) to decant Compartment 2 which still had fine tailings to prevent a secondary failure of the TSF. In addition, JD was directed to appoint an Approved Professional Person (APP) to oversee and advise the mine on the safety and operations, including but not limited to decanting Compartment 2 of the TSF at an appropriate rate to safeguard the risk of failure of the said compartment. The APP appointment was approved by the department’s Dam Safety Office (DSO). The DWS is not able to respond on the query regarding the rebuilding of the houses. We are requesting the Honourable Member to redirect this question to the Department of Human Settlements.

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Reply:

Part 9 of the National Water Act, Act 36 of 1998 (NWA) deals the review and renewal of licenses, and the amendment and substitution of conditions of licenses. Part 10 deals with contravention of or failure to comply with authorisations. None of these parts of legislation deal directly with sewage package plants.

a) (i) The details for each province are summarised in the table below.

(ii) The total number of authorized package plants (wastewater treatment and drinking water treatment) is 43. This number refers to facilities with a capacity of 2 mega litres per day and are authorised in terms of the NWA through general authorizations (GA) and water use licences (WUL).

(i-ii) No inspection conducted. Audits were conducted on 56% of the package plants in the period 2009 until 2023. More audits were conducted in the years 2022 and 2023 due to the Blue Drop and Green Drop Programme

2. (a) Authorisations issued to the package plants have conditions prescribing how much waste and waste concentrations can be released to the environment. The teams that conduct audits of package plants are trained Environmental Management Inspectors (EMIs) with capabilities of determining whether the conditions have been breached or not. In cases of non-compliance resulting in pollution of the environment, such pollution can be quantified in terms on its impact to the environment.

(b) In terms of the NWA, any water use license holder who fails to comply with license conditions commits a criminal offense in terms of Section 151(1)(c) in which the offender becomes liable to a fine or imprisonment or both. Therefore, if a water user has failed to comply with any of the license conditions, DWS first exercises administrative enforcement in the form of Notices and Directives which affords the water user an opportunity to rectify any non-compliances. In cases of further failure to comply, the DWS proceeds with either or both criminal and civil enforcement actions.

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Reply:

(1) The construction of the Refengkgotso (Deneysville) Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) commenced in 2017/2018 with the Contractor appointed on 9 May 2017, after the Water Use License (WUL), (14/C83M/CFGI/4681) was issued on 7 June 2016. The effluent discharge pipeline was constructed in 2017 and halted in 2017 when it was at 95% towards completion. At the time, the outstanding scope of work included the construction of the discharge end and the connection to the WWTW.

The WUL which expired and for which a new application is in process, is for the discharging of treated effluent into a water course, not for the construction of the WWTW. Currently, no effluent from the Refengkgotso (Deneysville) WWTW is being discharged into either the Vaal Dam or the Vaal River. Furthermore, no treated effluent will be discharged from the Refengkgotso WWTW before a WUL is in place.

(2) An application for the WUL which expired on 7 June 2021, was submitted, and is expected to be finalised by 31 May 2023. It should be noted that a Public Participation Process is not required for an application for a previously authorized WUL. However, a public participation meeting is scheduled to be held at the Deneysville Municipal Offices on 23 February 2023 at 17h00.

(3)(a) A Public Participation Process was convened before the project construction commenced at the Deneysville Primary School in Tank Street on 08 October 2015.

(b) The public participation meeting which was scheduled for 28 November 2022 could not take place due to the Engineer on the project passing on. Furthermore, the contractual arrangements between the Consultant and Metsimaholo had to be resolved first before the project activities could resume.

(c) The meeting was originally planned to be held in Refengkgotso, the residential area where the Deneysville WWTW is located. Refengkgotso is not a neighbouring town, it is a residential area of Deneysville. As indicated above, the meeting has been moved to the municipal offices of Metsimaholo in Deneysville.

(4)(a-b) The Deneysville WWTW will be owned and operated by the Metsimaholo LM once the construction and commissioning of the infrastructure has been concluded. Therefore, the municipality will be responsible for the advertising of posts and the appointment of the required personnel to operate the plant. The municipality has reported that it is already in the process of advertising the relevant posts. The DWS is not aware of further relevant details relating to the nature of posts to be advertised, the requirements and financial implications thereof. It is however estimated that the Deneysville WWTW will be classified as a Class C plant which will require the following operational staff according to Government Gazette No. 36958 of 23 October 2013 (Schedule 2 for Class of Works Rating, Schedule IV for Supervisor and Process Controller):

• 1 x Supervisor - Class V
• 4 x Process Controllers - Class III

(5) The Department has included an operational contract in the project in terms of which the Consultant will be assisting the Metsimaholo LM with the operation of the plant for 12 months after completion of the project.

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Reply:

a)(i) The allocated budget for royalties for the period 1 Jan to 31 Dec 2022 is R 1 330 million.

(ii) Article 4 of the Treaty describes the purpose as follows: “The Project shall be to enhance the use of water of the Senqu/Orange River by storing, regulating, diverting and controlling the flow of the Senqu/Orange River and its affluents in order to effect the delivery of specified quantities of water to the Designated Outlet Point in the Republic of South Africa and by utilizing such delivery system to generate hydro-electric power in the Kingdom of Lesotho.” The water is transferred into the Vaal River system to mainly supply water users in Gauteng.

a) The implementation, operations and commitments to deliver water to South Africa from the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) are governed by the Treaty of 1986 and its Protocols and the Phase II Agreement of 2011. The purpose of the Treaty and Agreement is to provide the legal basis for the implementation of Phases I and II of the LHWP as well as for the operation and maintenance of infrastructure.

i) There is no date by when the obligations of the Treaty in respect of water deliveries to South Africa will lapse.

ii) There are extensive programs in place as part of Phases I and II, including:

• Water supply for affected communities
• Sanitation programs for affected communities.
• Releases of water from the LHWP tunnel system for purposes of augmenting the Lesotho Lowlands Water Scheme that delivers water to Maseru and urban areas in the lowlands of Lesotho.

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Reply:

a) The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) undertakes planning studies over different planning horizons, to develop interventions that are implemented to ensure water security for the country. These interventions comprise of enablers like governance, financing, human capacity building as well as science and innovation which facilitate implementation of water projects at National, Provincial and District and Local Municipality level.

b) The interventions implemented to ensure water security are contained in the National Water Resource Strategy (NWRS), through which the minister gives effect to the National Water Act, as well as the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan (NWSMP). Additional interventions include the following:

• Planning and implementing a range of major projects to augment national bulk water resource infrastructure and
• Establishing the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA) to finance and implement the large-scale investments in national water resource infrastructure that are required to ensure that South Africa has sufficient bulk water supply now and in future.
• The department is prioritising increased but sustainable use of groundwater
• The department is also exploring seawater desalination.
• Strengthening the department’s its role in supporting and intervening in municipalities where water and sanitation services are failing, in conjunction with provinces, COGTA, National Treasury and SALGA.
• The Department is updating the National and sectoral Water Conservation and Water Demand Management strategies. This is to ensure effective performance of WCWDM practices by the sector.
• The DWS has also developed the Water Services Improvement Programme (WSIP) to strengthen its support and intervention at municipal level based on actual data or most available data. The aim of the programme is for the Department to ensure that support and intervention at municipal level is proactive, consistent, and systematic.
• In line with the WSIP, the department has further established the Water Partnership Office (WPO) within the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). The WPO has developed five standardized National Programmes for private sector participation in municipal water and sanitation services,
• One of the five National Programmes within the WPO is Non- Revenue Water (NRW) programme aimed at implementing the Water Conservation and Water Demand Management and cost recovery programme focusing on reducing losses, reducing over consumption, and improving cost recovery

The various studies that inform the NWRS are available on the DWS website, at http://www6.dwa.gov.za/iwrp/projects.aspx, and the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan (NW&SMP) is available at http://www.dwa.gov.za.

c) (i-ii) All provinces are affected by the growing demand for water due to:

• Demand outstripping supply due to extensive growth of urban settlements
• Extension of services to previously serviced rural settlements
• Poor maintenance of ageing infrastructure - at a municipal level - that has also reached the end of its lifespan
• Non-revenue water is currently sitting at 45.1% (31,9 % is losses through physical leakages)
• The management of water treatment plants adds to the crisis as many of the municipal treatment plants are operating below average standards and a third are critical based on the Blue Drop reports.
• Shortage of bulk water (owing to droughts, delayed planning for and delivery of bulk water infrastructure such as dams and associated infrastructure)

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Reply:

The Department of Water and Sanitation is funding various bulk water supply projects which benefit rural househols as well as persons with disabilities in KwaZulu-Natal. The following are the projects which are being implemented in the various municipal areas:

Reply:

a)  The current backlog in the provision of water in the rural areas across the Republic are as follows:

• Out of a total of 19,368,622 households in South Africa 6 396 431 households are classified as rural households
• Out of 6 396 431 rural households 4 760 182 (86%) have access the RDP level of service for water
• Out of 6 396 431 rural households, only 3 157 091 (61%) have access to a reliable supply of water

b) A funding gap of R33 billion must be closed each year for the next 10 years, through improved revenue generation and reduced costs based on a study undertaken through the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan (NWSMP). The department has embarked on the development of a Five-Year Reliable Water and Sanitation Services Delivery Implementation Plans that will, after completion, produce a pipeline of projects for each WSA with the associated costing. National grant funding programmes will be aligned with these needs.

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Reply:

a)  The Department is aware of the sewage challenges experience by Joe Gqabi District Municipality. There have been long standing issues at the Burgersdorp sewage system and Steynsburg Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTW). The status regarding progress made is as follows:

• Contractors are currently at both sites
• Progress made at the Burgersdorp WWTW is at 95%
• Progress made with the Steynsburg sewage system is at 80%.

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Reply:

1. Part 9 of the National Water Act, Act 36 of 1998 addresses the review and renewal of licenses, and the amendment and substitution of conditions of licenses. Water treatment package plants, either for drinking water treatment or for wastewater treatment, usually have a design capacity range of between 1-2ML/day. This capacity range is small and has a low impact compared to the conventional larger water treatment plants. Lower-risk water uses are generally authorized through Part 6: Section 39 (General Authorization) of the National Water Act, depending on the sensitivity of the catchment. Licenses are issued for larger treatment plants. The table below provides a summary of regulatory requirements for wastewater treatment and drinking water treatment package plants.

Measures taken by the Department to ensure the compliance of water treatment package plants between 2018 and 2022 include:

1. The revival of the Green and Blue Drop certification programs
2. Monitoring action plans for non-compliant systems
3. Enforcement actions
4. Review of the norms and standards for drinking water
5. Confirmation of general authorizations for new plants
6. As part of the license conditions, package plants are mandated to submit to the DWS, monthly water quality analysis which should be in line with the applicable limits for each parameter analysed.

2. (a) The Water Services Act, Act 08 of 1997 does not make provisions for penalties. However, the DWS carries out audits to monitor compliance and implements enforcement actions to rectify contraventions related to non-compliance to the conditions of authorizations.

(b) The Department is monitoring compliance of package plants as provided for by legislation. The department undertakes audits as part of regular monitoring activities and where there is non-compliance, issues Notices or Directives to the owners of the package plant. In some cases, investigations are triggered by reports of suspected cases of non-compliance which are followed up by the department. Where administrative enforcement actions are implemented, the department monitors to ensure full compliance with the conditions of authorisations.

The table below indicates instances where the Department has undertaken compliance monitoring audits and investigations triggered by complaints received and the subsequent administrative actions to address non-compliances.

Table 2: Compliance monitoring audits, inspections conducted, and enforcement actions taken

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Reply:

(a) Fifteen (15) of the remaining 77 Water Services Authorities (WSAs) have submitted action plans since June 2022.

(b) The following fifteen (15) WSAs have submitted action plans:

• O R Tambo DM
• Sunday River Valley LM
• Kouga LM
• Beaufort West LM
• Kannaland LM
• Matzikama LM
• Prince Albert LM
• Swellendam LM
• Siyacuma LM
• Tsantsabane LM
• Merafong LM
• Lesedi LM
• Rand West LM
• Pixley Ka Seme LM
• Ngaka Modiri Molema DM

Four (4) additional WSA have requested support for the development of the action plan as indicated below:

• Msukaligwa LM
• Thaba Chweu LM
• Emalahleni LM
• Chris Hani DM

The Department is implementing the Water Services Improvement Programme (WSIP) to strengthen its support and intervention at municipal level based on actual data or most available data, the aim of the programme is to ensure that support and intervention at municipal level is proactive, consistent, and systematic. There has also been concerted effort with SALGA and MISA to assist remaining municipalities with the development and implementation of the action plans.

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Reply:

1.  The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) conducted the Green Drop assessment during 2021/22 which culminated in the release of the National Green Drop Report 2022. In KZN, 14 Water Services Authorities (WSAs) and 147 wastewater systems were audited with the following results

• 47 of the wastewater systems in KwaZulu Natal were found not to be measuring their wastewater inflows
• 7 wastewater systems were overloaded
• 76 wastewater systems received Green Drop Score of above 50% (meaning what?)
• 20 wastewater systems were found to be at critical state
• 3 wastewater systems received Green Drop certification (scored minimum of 90%).

To mitigate the risk, the DWS has implemented several interventions including the issuance of non-compliance letters, notices, and directives to minimize the pollution impacts on the water resources. In addition, corrective action plans and green drop improvement plan templates have been issued to the WSAs to ensure that their Councils commit funds to address the gaps identified in the assessments. The DWS is assisting the WSAs to compile corrective action plans and improvement plans which will need to be implemented within predetermined timeframe and monitored by the department.

The department has also implemented measures to address pollution of water resources in KwaZulu-Natal. These include:

1. Undertaking routine inspections of sewerage infrastructure (wastewater treatment works, pumpstations and pipelines).
2. The DWS also follows up on pollution issues reported by the public.
3. In cases where pollution to water resources is observed, administrative processes are taken against the non-compliant municipalities in the form of Non-compliance Notices and/or Directives
4. The Department has also established Water Resource Protection Technical Committee Meetings to address the issues of pollution in different districts

Following the floods in April 2022, the DWS has also implemented the following interventions to support affected municipalities in KZN:

1. Availed the team of Engineers and Scientists to assist with the assessments of the damage to the water and sanitation infrastructure
2. Officials of the department participate in WAR Room meetings where repairs of infrastructure and progress thereof are discussed
3. Three (3) Directives were issued, on 13 May 2022, to the municipalities which were severely affected, namely: eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, ILembe District Municipality (DM) and Ugu DM
4. Established the WAR Room through the Minister to address issues of water provisioning and sanitation, as well as to discuss challenges that the municipalities might be facing such as funding, human resources, amongst others

(2) The DWS assisted the Ethekwini, Ugu and Ilembe District Municipalities by reallocating R65 million funding to support immediate relief measures which included provision water tankers for 3 months. The DWS also conducted assessments of the damaged infrastructure and submitted a funding application for disaster relief funding to the National Disaster Management Centre. Damaged infrastructure can also be repaired through reprioritising of the DWS Water and Sanitation Infrastructure Grant (WSIG).

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Reply:

The details for the staff employed in offices of the Minister and Deputy Ministers are indicted in the table below:

(i) Office of the Minister (9 officials)

(ii) Office of Deputy Minister (9 officials)

(iii) Office of Deputy Minister (8 officials)

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Reply:

The Summit was intended to engage various stakeholders together to form partnerships and identify lasting solutions to the water and sanitation problems facing the country. Based on the outcomes of the summit, the department is working together with SALGA, NT and COGTA, DWS will lead the development and implementation of a range of inter-related and coordinated support measures and interventions. Broadly, interventions that have been identified and are being implemented include the following:

• 1. Strengthening and extending the roles, responsibilities, and capacity of water boards so that they are able to provide water and sanitation services in instances where municipalities are failing to provide the services
  2. Reviewing the geographical boundaries of the water boards to make them more sustainable, this already started with the disestablishment of Sedibeng Water
  3. Increasing involvement of private sector financing and management in municipal water and sanitation services through public-private partnerships
  4. Strengthening regulatory interventions based upon the results of monitoring mechanisms such as Blue Drop, Green Drop and No Drop
  5. Strengthening the National Norms and Standards (Water Services Act) and put in place a framework to guide the provision of sanitation services
  6. Introducing longer term interventions through WISP and the DDM programmes, through for example, taking over the management of wastewater treatment works from municipalities for a longer prescribed period where there is continued non-compliance with norms and standards
  7. More effectively link the allocation of municipal water and sanitation grants to enable support and interventions
  8. Use DWS internal construction capacity for rapid deployment to address urgent intervention needs
  9. Put in place appropriate financing frameworks and mechanisms for support and interventions
  10. Improve coordination and linkages of the interventions made in terms of sections of various legislation

Some of these measures will start to have an impact on municipal water and sanitation services in the short term (within 3 months) and others will yield results in the medium term.

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Reply:

a)  Many of the provinces across the country have been impacted by a combination of factors including:

• Additional demand and water use owing to population growth and extension of services to previously unserved rural communities
• Prolonged droughts in certain parts of the country
• Shortage of bulk water (owing to droughts, delayed planning for and delivery of bulk water infrastructure such as dams and associated infrastructure)
• Challenges with municipal water service delivery
• Poor maintenance of municipal infrastructure that results in frequent pipe bursts and unreliable supply of water

To prevent more widespread water interruptions across the country, municipalities have resorted to water restrictions or even scheduled water interruptions to ensure that communities are able to access some water for a few hours.

b) The main challenges impacting reliability of water supply are due to:

• Demand outstripping supply due to extensive growth of urban settlements
• Extension of services to previously unserviced rural settlements
• Poor maintenance of ageing infrastructure - at a municipal level - that has also reached the end of its lifespan
• Non-revenue water is currently at 45.1% (31,9 % refers to losses through physical leakages)
• The management of water treatment plants adds to the crisis as half of our treatment plants are operating below average standards and fully a third are critical based on the Blue Drop reports
• Ongoing load shedding by ESKOM during the last year has also intensified the situation by impeding the ability of Water Boards and municipalities to pump water into reservoirs. This resulted in water levels in the reservoirs being too low to gravity-feed water to high-lying areas across the country.

To address the challenges outlined above, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is in the process of:

• Planning and implementing a range of major projects to augment national bulk water resource infrastructure and
• Establishing the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA) to finance and implement the large-scale investments in national water resource infrastructure that are required to ensure that South Africa has sufficient bulk water supply now and in future.
• Strengthening its role in supporting and intervening in municipalities where water and sanitation services are failing, in conjunction with provinces, COGTA, National Treasury and SALGA.
• The DWS has also developed the Water Services Improvement Programme (WSIP) to strengthen its support and intervention at municipal level based on actual data or most available data. The aim of the programme is for the Department to ensure that support and intervention at municipal level is proactive, consistent, and systematic.
• In line with the WSIP, the Department has further established the Water Partnership Office (WPO) within the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). The WPO has developed five standardized National Programmes for private sector participation in municipal water and sanitation services, to make it easier, quicker, and cheaper for municipalities to enter into partnerships, without having to ‘reinvent the wheel’ for each partnership. One of the five National Programmes within the WPO is Non- Revenue Water (NRW) programme aimed at implementing the Water Conservation and Water Demand Management and cost recovery programme focusing on reducing losses, reducing over consumption, and improving cost recovery

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Reply:

The sanitation project in the Sol-Plaatje Local Municipality, Ward 17 is being implemented in Phases. Phase 1 which provided 368 toilets was completed in September 2022. The issues listed above were primarily due to theft of material. In addition, the project was also affected by poor workmanship by the contractor compounded by labour unrest during implementation. The municipality is in the process of developing a business plan for funding of further phases.

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Reply:

The Xikukwane village receives water from Giyani Water Treatment Works (WTW) through pipeline F1. The design capacity of the Giyani WTW is 30Ml/d.

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has two (2) projects funded under Regional Bulk Infratructure Grant (RBIG), which are currently under construction in the Greater Giyani Local Municipaty (LM), and the Xikukwane village is one of the beneficiaries. The projects are implemented to address bulk water challenges in the Greater Giyani LM. Lepelle Northern Water was appointed as the Implementing Agent for both projecs which are comprised of the Nandon-Nsami pipeline project; and the Giyani Water Services project.

The background and progress of the projects is indicated below:

The need for the transfer of water from the Nandoni Dam to Giyani arose because of the critical shortage of water in Giyani due to low water levels in the Middle Letaba and Nsami Dams cause by recurring drought.

The department’s intervention is meant to accelerate water services provision in the distressed area of Mopani DM by conveying bulk water from Nandoni Dam to Nsami Water Treatment Works.

Overall progress at end of (November?) 2022 is estimated to be 62,78% with a projected completion date of 22 June 2023.

The Giyani Water Services projects are intended to accelerate water services provision to 55 villages in Giyani and include:

• Overall refurbishment and upgrade of Giyani WTW.
• The Giyani reticulation and household connection project. The envisaged completion date is October 2023

The two projects will be implemented by the Mopani DM once procurement processes are completed.

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Reply:

The Budeli village is one of the five villages that the residents were affected by the construction of the Nandoni dam. A budget of R 62milllion has been set aside to repair the defects of all the five villages for the 2022/2023 financial year and the project is set to be completed by March 2023.

There were 100 houses that were found to have defects at the Budeli Village. Progress made by the Department is indicated below:

• Sixty-six (66) houses have been repaired
• One (1) house re-built due to the extent of the defects
• Repairs to the remaining thirty-three (33) houses will be completed by 15 December 2022.

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Reply:

1 a) Severe load shedding affects the ability of Water Boards and Water Service Authorities (WSAs) to pump water into their reservoirs. This resulted in the water levels in the reservoirs being too low to gravity-feed water to high-lying areas. As a result, several high-lying areas have been without water for prolonged periods.

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has not quantified the amount of production downtime across the country. However, most WSAs have a contingency plan to ensure continuity of water supply. Water Boards and WSAs experienced several electrical and mechanical failures, which also contributed to the difficulty in filling the reservoirs. Some of these failures may have been a result of damage to equipment caused by the frequent load shedding.

Using the Eskom schedule of loading shedding, Treatment Plants can be closed in phases to prevent sudden shutdown of processes at the start of loadshedding that damage infrastructure. It is also possible to store additional treated water in preparation to cater for downtime at the plant. The operating philosophy is to maintain the reservoir levels between 60-80%. This targeted range will enable the system to be resilient and respond to any challenges.

1 b) All treatment plants, rely on electricity in one way or another, and where affordable, WSAs are encouraged to ensure continuous water provision through additional storage such as reservoirs and static tanks or alternative energy supply to cater for loadshedding.

2 The Water Boards, as water service providers to various WSAs, have taken different approaches to manage the impact of ESKOM’s loadshedding on their ability to provide reliable bulk water supply services to users, including:

• Engaging with the provincial government leadership and ESKOM to negotiate and facilitate for exemption on water infrastructure from frequent load-shedding.
• Filing applications with ESKOM for exemption in terms of Eskom Regulation NRS048-9. Some applications for exemption have been successful while some have not been due to technical reasons advanced by ESKOM and some are still waiting for outcomes to the applications.
• Water Boards such as Bloem Water, Rand Water, Umngeni Water, Lepelle Water and Magalies Water are operating water infrastructure that is exempt from loadshedding and are mostly able to continue with operations during loadshedding.

• Entities such as Bloem Water, Rand Water, Umngeni Water, Lepelle Water and Magalies Water are operating water infrastructure that is exempt from loadshedding and are mostly able to continue with operations.
• Where affordable, some of the entities have procured back-up generators to continue with operations even when there is loadshedding.

Some municipalities have been able to exempt some of their water and sanitation facilities from load shedding, but this is often not possible because it would require exempting whole areas from load shedding, which in turn would result in Eskom’s load shedding requirements not being met.

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Reply:

Water supply challenges in Nkowankowa are a result of tampering with valves on the outlet of the command reservoir and the bypass line to facilitate illegal connections. This caused low pressure on the bulk pipeline resulting in supply interruptions in some areas of Nkowankowa as water could not reach the furthest points of distribution.

The Mopani District Municipality together with the Greater Tzaneen Local Municipality have identified all the valves that needed to be repaired to supply water at Nkowankowa Township and Dan village.

With the assistance of Mokgolobotho Cooperation, which is a community-led structure, all unauthorized connections to the rising main were identified and removed. Water supply to Mokgolobotho settlement has since been restored. Leakages caused by unauthorised connection were identified and repaired.

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Reply:

Due to the current high-water demand exacerbated by the ongoing power outages, the Rustenburg Local Municipality (LM) is implementing water demand management in the greater Boitekong areas including the new stands (Extention 13). According to the Rustenburg LM, the water restrictions schedules have been communicated with relevant Ward Councillors and the affected residents.

In the medium to long term, funds have been made available through the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) administered by Department of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) for the upgrade of Bospoort Water Treatment Works from the 12ML/d to 24ML/d. I have been advised that the outstanding mechanical and electrical works are envisaged to be completed by the end of June 2023. This will ensure adequate water provision to the Boitekong area.

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Reply:

a)  The Department acknowledges the deterioration of water and sanitation services at municipal level. The decline includes a growing trend on water losses and water use inefficiencies. In response to the decline, and along with the requirement by AGSA to develop an action plan, the Department is putting in place a Water Services Improvement Programme (WSIP) to strengthen its support and intervention at municipal level based on actual data or most available data. The aim of the programme is for the Department to ensure that support and intervention at municipal level is proactive, consistent, and systematic as opposed to current ad-hoc approach. In line with the WSIP, the Department has further established the Water Partnership Office (WPO) within the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). The WPO has developed five standardized National Programmes for private sector participation in municipal water and sanitation services, to make it easier, quicker, and cheaper for municipalities to enter into partnerships, without having to ‘reinvent the wheel’ for each partnership. One of the five National Programmes within the WPO is Non- Revenue Water (NRW) programme aimed at implementing the Water Conservation and Water Demand Management and cost recovery programme focusing on reducing losses, reducing over consumption, and improving cost recovery

b) A part of the programme is being implemented; the intention is to roll it out Nationally in the next Financial Year (2023/24 FY)

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Reply:

Due to the current high water demand exacerbated by the ongoing power outages, the Rustenburg Local Municipality (LM) is implementing water demand management in the greater Boitekong areas including the new stands (Extention 13). According to the Rustenburg LM, the water restrictions schedules have been communicated with relevant Ward Councillors and the affected residents.

In the medium to long term, funds have been made available through Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) administered by Department of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) for the upgrade of Bospoort Water Treatment Works from the 12ML/d to 24ML/d. I have been advised that the outstanding mechanical and electrical works is envisaged to be completed by the end of June 2023. This will ensure adequate water provision to the Boitekong area.

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Reply:

The extension 8 housing development in Ward 40 was funded by the erstwhile Department of Housing in 2005. Two hundred (200) houses were constructed and handed over to beneficiaries. Whereas there was a sewer pipeline network in the areas at the time of construction, some of the houses were not connected to the sewer pipe network. According to the Municipality, the area is fully equipped with a sewerage conveyances system, the only challenge that exists is to connect the few houses to the sewer line.

The Department of Water and Sanitation allocated R70 million from the Water Services Infrastructure Grant for 2022/23 to the Rustenburg Local Municipality. The municipality indicated that it has prioritised the refurbishment of the Boitekong sewer pump station and the outfall sewer. The current budget allocation for WSIG is fully committed, however, the municipality is in the process of reprioritising the Municipal Infrastructure Grant to address the Boitekong sanitation backlog.

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Reply:

a)  To date, two (2) Boards for Water Boards, have been dissolved. The Board for Amatola Water was dissolved in March 2022 and the Interim Board of Sedibeng Water was automatically dissolved as a result of the disestablishment of Sedibeng Water in July 2022.

b) The process of appointing the new board for Amatola Water has commenced, and it should be finalised before the end of the current financial year.

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