Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu has warned municipalities that have failed to take corrective active to fix their dysfunctional wastewater treatment plants that criminal charges have been laid against them.
This was after the Green Drop report found that 334 wastewater systems in 90 municipalities were in a critical condition.
Mchunu said it would be of no use if municipalities do not implement the findings of the report to fix their water infrastructure.
He called on the leadership at local level where senior officials fail to respond to the corrective measures outlined in the reports to act against them.
Mchunu, who was replying to a written parliamentary question from DA MP Nicholas Myburgh, said the Blue Drop and Green Drop reports serve as the basis to identify the true state of water quality in South Africa.
Myburgh said most of the wastewater treatment plants are reaching a tipping point.
Mchunu said they were addressing problems that have been raised by the Green Drop report, but in some instances municipalities fail to act to address the challenges.
“The 2022 Green Drop report found 334 out of 850 (39%) municipal wastewater systems in 90 municipalities (63% of the 144 water services authorities) to be in critical condition, receiving Green Drop scores of 30% and below. The department then issued non-compliance notices to these 90 municipalities, requesting the municipalities to submit corrective action plans to address the shortcomings identified in the Green Drop report.
“Those municipalities which did not submit corrective action plans have been issued with directives compelling them to submit such plans. Criminal charges have been laid against some of the municipalities which have not submitted corrective action plans,” said Mchunu.
“While the reports are effective in providing the true status as well as the aspects that municipalities have to address in order to improve performance, this does not help where municipalities do not respond to the report, the notices and directives due to poor management. This can only be corrected by leadership,” he said.
He warned that the reports were not simply produced to be ignored by municipalities and these municipalities have to act on areas that have been identified by the experts in the report to improve water quality.
This was not a compliance exercise when they audit wastewater treatment plants across the country, but their job was to ensure that the water infrastructure was on the level that was required.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
Politics