A United Approach To Fixing South Africa’s Water Supply And Sanitation

Comprising seven water boards, various catchment management agencies, the Water Research Commission (WRC) and the Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA), AWSISA is formed to support the mandate of the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) while pursuing the common interests of its members along the water and sanitation value chain.

Challenges

Dr. Nndweleni Mphephu, director at AWSISA

“This is a structure that will promote better collaboration among waterboards. For example, collectively, water boards are owed over R25 billion by municipalities. It is far easier to ask intervention from Treasury as a single voice, than to individually try to deal with outstanding payments,” says Mphephu.
Non-revenue water is a reason for the rising levels of municipal debt. The No Drop Report found that national non-revenue water rose from 37% in 2014 to 47% in 2023, surpassing the international average of 30%. This is caused by lack of maintenance, theft and vandalism.
“The lack of maintenance results in municipalities being reactive and spending more time and money repairing burst pipes than preventative maintenance. Then there are illegal water connections, but this is often a result of a municipality’s failure to provide water in that area. There is also is the water tanker mafia, who deliberately sabotage water systems to attract business from municipalities,” he adds.
Alarmingly, many municipalities do not have adequate data to even understand their water demand. This makes in nearly impossible to implement water conservation and water demand management programmes.
Another issue is declining water quality. The 2023 Blue Drop Report revealed that 46% of South Africa’s water supply systems are microbiologically unsafe for consumption, indicating a significant decline in drinking water quality since 2014.
There is also escalating pollution of water sources that is mostly caused by the discharge of untreated or partially treated effluent by wastewater treatment plants that are failing. The most recent Green Drop Progress Assessment Report found that 64% of wastewater treatment works are at high or critical risk of discharging partially treated or untreated effluent into the environment, posing serious environmental and public health risks.

The need for collaboration

Mphephu believes that better collaboration can help address these challenges.

“Water boards successfully supplying SANS 241-compliant water hold little value if many municipalities struggle to reticulate that water effectively to communities. We are not pointing fingers, we believe that water boards and municipalities should work together. Water boards have the skills and experience to provide assistance. The primary goal of AWSISA is to ensure that all communities, no matter where they are located, receive water. We want to help municipalities improve their No Drop, Green Drop and Blue Drop scores that will ultimately improve water provision to communities. AWSISA can provide an advisory role to the sector on all matters from an IWRM perspective and support municipalities in water services provision.”

Planning ahead

AWSISA has developed seven work streams to assist with various the challenges:

• Technical
• Finance – AWSISA can beinvolved in leveraging project financing through structures such as TCTA and the water board’s strong balance sheets.
• Innovation, research and development – AWSISA membership can lead innovation, research and development projects through structures such as WRC and share knowledge with WSAs
• Legal and risk management
• Human resources and labour relations
• Partnerships – fosters intra and global partnerships among AWSISA members
• Water resource management.

They are also hosting a conference from the 9^th November – 13^th November at Emperors Palace, Gauteng, that will address critical water and sanitation challenges while showcasing Africa-focused solutions and innovations.
AWSISA also approves of the draft National Water Amendment Bill that aims to strengthen accountability for water service providers and encourage transparency by introducing an operator’s licencing system.

“There may be municipalities that do not qualify for a license – the private sector and waterboards may then be called upon to provide such services. Existing water boards with a reputation for quality and competence are well placed to move into this space as they are familiar with the highly regulated water sector,” says Mphephu.

Water Day Message

DWS Minister Pemmy Majodina recently stated that  water has been identified as priority number one as parts of the country continue to battle with supply. She went on to say that there is no substitute for water and that attention needs to be placed in terms of its provision.
“AWSISA whole heartedly agree with this. For us, it is no mistake that World Water Day is celebrated a day after South Africa’s Human Rights Day. People have a right to water, and they have a right to clean water. With collaboration between waterboards, national government and municipalities and even other African countries, we can ensure that all people have water and dignity in terms of sanitation,” concludes Mphephu.

“Water boards successfully supplying SANS 241-compliant water hold little value if many municipalities struggle to reticulate that water effectively to communities. We are not pointing fingers, we believe that water boards and municipalities should work together. Water boards have the skills and experience to provide assistance. The primary goal of AWSISA is to ensure that all communities, no matter where they are located, receive water. We want to help municipalities improve their No Drop, Green Drop and Blue Drop scores that will ultimately improve water provision to communities. AWSISA can provide an advisory role to the sector on all matters from an IWRM perspective and support municipalities in water services provision.”