Department : Water Affairs & Forestry Portfolio Committee: Public Hearings on Water Quality and Water Security Presentation by DWAF June 2006

Department : Water Affairs & Forestry

Portfolio Committee: Public Hearings on Water Quality and

Water Security

Presentation by DWAFJune 2006

Department: Water Affairs & Forestry

Content of presentation• Overview of current situation• Policy and legislative environment/goals w.r.t

– surface and groundwater protection, partnerships between government and communities; dam safety and security

• Research and data: countrywide WQ monitoring network and resource allocation on research

• Technology transfer and technical assistance• Volunteerism in WQ protection• Improvement on dissemination of information on WQ, • Health and education plans on WQ


Overview of current DWQ situation

• While good quality water is reticulated in the metropolitan areas and bigger municipalities, there are areas where the quality of drinking water is not up to standard.

• Reported reasons for failure:– Lack of understanding requirements for effective DWQM.– Inadequate management incl. monitoring of drinking water

quality– Inadequate Asset Management– Inadequate Institutional Capacity– Lack of interventions to address poor DWQ.


Overview of current WQ situation• Raw surface water in mining and agricultural areas

compromised by eutrophication, pH, and chloride, sulphate and salinity issues, which challenge the effectiveness of older treatment technologies.

• Sporadic outbreaks of water related illnesses occur where inadequate operational monitoring and lack of corrective measures fail to ensure a safe drinking water supply, meeting the requirements of SANS 241 and the Water Services Act.


Overview of surface water resource quality situation• Of 186 monitored rivers, their ecological (not

domestic) health condition varies from (a) 1.6%, (natural), (b) 26.6%, (good), (c) 42.8% (fair) and (d) 29% (poor).

• More than 50% of large dams in SA are seriously impacted by eutrophication, monitored currently in 17 WMA’s

• Microbial indicator monitoring currently in 15 WMA’s• The high salinity mainly in agricultural areas, is

monitored in 950 sampling points.


Overview of groundwater quality situation

• Groundwater quality largely follows seasonal trend – good 2005-2006 rainfall season in the summer rainfall regions of SA, groundwater still largely of good quality;

• In winter rainfall regions, especially Western Cape, no/little groundwater recharge occurred in the last 4 – 6 years - negative trend in groundwater quality may result in future.

• Cases where the groundwater quality could be impacted in the long-term, eg rewatering of gold and coal mining areas (Gauteng). Water use (discharging) authorization process is addressing this issue i.t.o. treatment– but some areas (i.e.Western Gold Mining Basin) are decanting and pose threat to surface water.

• Some concerns around local (rural) groundwater resources where proper treatment of grey water is a concern.

• Impact of poor sanitation on groundwater is a concern


Legislative Framework for Legislative Framework for DWQM/RDWQM/R

• Constitution– Right of access to sufficient water – implies quality

• Strategic Framework for Water Services: Annex 2 give Water Quality as one of the key performance indicators for the sector.

• Water Services Act:• Regulation 5 under Section 9 of Water Services Act of 1997:

WSA must:– Have a sampling programme– Must compare results to SANS 0241– Must respond to failure in quality

• National Standard for Drinking Water Quality, SANS 0241:2005, is favorable according to WHO Guidelines and quite on par with other international standards.


Legislative framework for resource quality protection

• Constitution – environment not harmful to health or well-being

• National Water Act – protection of water resources– The Reserve– Classification of water resources



• Linkages with source control– General authorisations– Water Use Authorisations– License conditions– Monitoring– Compliance and enforcement



• Documents developed with stakeholder input• 3 examples

– Visioning guideline: enables communities to participate in setting of vision to protect water resources

– Guideline: Establishment and management of Catchment forums

– Model developed to set Resource Water Quality Objectives


Legislative framework for dam safety and security

• National Key Points – major dams• Dam safety legislation administered by DWAF• Dept of Transport responsible for vehicles on

dams eg boat safety and regulation• DWAF to promulgate regulations this year on

dam safety• Looking at public safety at dams not just

traditional dam safety


Research, data and monitoring network


Information

Generation and

Dissemination

Data Storage

and Manageme

nt

Data Acquisitio

n

Programme 1

Programme 2

Programme n

Information users

Operation

Design

IT Infrastructure (H/W, S/W, Applications)

Monitoring must be USER centric


Resource Quality Monitoring

1.

Assess and Report on Quality of the National Water

Resources

2.

Develop and Coordinate WRQ

Monitoring Programmes

3.

Develop Guidelines,

Procedures and Assessment

Methods

4.

Provide Diverse Scientific and

Technical Support

5.

Provide Training

Activities

WMS

Systems

Monitoring Programmes:

•National Microbial Monitoring Programme NMMP

•National Eutrophication Monitoring Programme NEMP

•National Toxicological Monitoring Programme NTMP

•National Radioactivity Monitoring Programme NRMP

•National Salinity / Chemical Monitoring Programme

•Nat Aquatic Ecosystem Biomonitoring Prog ( RHP)


Technology transfer and technical assistance

• Main assistance is to local government– Project Consolidate– SAICE project of deploying engineers– Training and capacity building for

councillors and officials– NCWSTI – provides training in water

services functions– Guidelines, minimum standards etc


DWQ Intervention• DWAF strives to respond to all drinking water quality

failures reported (via reporting mechanisms; consumer complaints; media reports, etc)

• Some successful interventions were: Makhado (LP); Bloemhof & Vryburg (NW); Tshwane & Bronkhorstspruit (GP); Machadodorp (MP)

• Successful intervention is dependant on credible and frequent DWQ information feeds.


Volunteerism in water quality protection

• Communities– Catchment Management Forums eg on the

Jukskei, bring various stakeholders together to find common solutions to water quality issues

• Adopt a river programme, linked to river health programme

• Schools programmes


Improved information dissemination


Drinking water quality informationDrinking water quality information• The DWQ survey of 2005 indicated that only 58% of

municipalities are monitoring Drinking Water Quality. In 2006, 85% claimed to be monitoring.

• The implementation of the DWQ Regulation system will replace the annual DWQ survey and more reliable information will then be available.

• DWQM Systems have been implemented in the Free State; Western Cape and parts of the Eastern Cape and Kwa Zulu.

• Project has been extended to provide the Local DWQ Management system to all provinces.


Drinking Water Quality Drinking Water Quality Regulation Information FlowRegulation Information Flow

Operational Operational MonitoringMonitoring

ComplianceCompliance MonitoringMonitoring

WSAWSA DWQMS DWQMS (X176)(X176)

DWAFDWAFNational DWQ RegulationNational DWQ Regulation

SystemSystem

Water Services Water Services Performance Measurement Performance Measurement

SystemSystem

Annual ReportAnnual Report

100% Completion100% CompletionTarget Date:Target Date:1 April 20071 April 2007


DWQ Regulation InitiativesIntroduce all WSA’s to DWQM system. Started

(March 2007)

Enforce Regulation 5 under Section 9 of Water Services Act of 1997.

Started(Ongoing)

Enforce Regulation on Water Process Controlling and Treatment Plant Classification.

Started, a more focused

approach by August 2006

Introduce Good Practice of Self-Assessment (DWQ Asset Management).

To Start July 2006

Formalize that WSA’s have Water Safety Plans.

Still need to strategize with

WRC.

Publish DWQ information annually at least


Water Safety Plans• As guided by the World Health Organization's

Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality, WSA’s will be encouraged to developed Water Safety Plans.

• The objective of these plans is to ensure that an Authority caters and plans for the safeness of drinking water from source to consumer.

• The Basis for these plans have been laid with the development of the DWQ Management Framework for South Africa.

• Water Research Commission has commenced with an initiative to develop a model water safety plan.


Surface and groundwater quality information dissemination

• Information freely available from Information Officers in DWAF (HO and RO)

• WQ Communication strategy developed• Several documents, posters, videos,

brochures developed and widely distributed at forums – well received by stakeholders

• Communication Framework updated with input from stakeholder survey to determine communication needs


Health and education plans• Schools

– Water Education Programme – 2020– Part of this programme is an Intervention Project– Scholars are encouraged to identify water related problems (incl.

Drinking Water Quality problems)– A plan of action is then drawn up with the help of Water Quality

Specialist. • Sanitation

– DWAF, DOE, DOH, WSAs, developed a Health and Hygiene Strategy– will be submitted for approval to DGs of DWAF and Health by mid July 2006 – DWAF initiated and led the partnership [and buy-in] with Dept of Housing

and DoH in securing a team of PSPs to train • District Health Managers to ensure the decentralization of H&H

education and support accelerated sanitation delivery (Training planned for 26-30 June)

• Sanitation practitioners and Environmental Health Practitioners at WSA level


Thank you



