Lack of skills and capacity hinder water delivery in SA

30 July 2015 - 15:42 By RDM News Wire

Lack of skills and capacity among municipalities in South Africa is at the heart of poor water service delivery - 28% of the country’s towns have inadequate water supply - the chief engineer in the Department of Water and Sanitation‚ Allestair Wensley‚ said. Speaking at the Southern African Development Community National Water Week-SA workshop‚ Wensley said insidious water leaks in households and ageing infrastructure were a great source of concern as municipalities were unable to “run a viable water service”.He said it was important to replace water metres every nine years because if that was not done consumers would end up underpaying for water. Emfuleni Local Municipality in Vereeniging was the only municipality that was succeeding in reducing the use of non-revenue (unaccounted for) water.Wensley said the high consumption of water at 227 cubic metres per day in South Africa had to be addressed as a matter of urgency as there was an estimated population of 54 million people in the country who depended on this dwindling resource. Water consumption in South Africa contrasted sharply with the average world consumption which stood at 174 cubic metres a day.“The situation is further exacerbated by the fact that South Africa doesn’t have surplus water and 28% of the country’s towns have inadequate water supply.”However‚ it was not all doom and gloom as the country has a total reliable yield of 98% assurance of surface water‚ groundwater‚ return flow and other sources supply of 15 billion cubic meters a year. Current usage is estimated to be between 15 and 16 billion cubic metres a year.Marie Brisley‚ chief director in the department‚ said South Africa would avoid any slide into a water crisis provided there was a centrality role for water in planning and decision making in all sectors.“This will only be possible provided we and our partners jointly work together to achieve effective implementation of water conservation and water demand management measures.“We must also look into the large-scale effluent re-use and improve curbing of unlawful water use.”Brisley also said it was important for the department to address the deteriorating levels of water quality. Co-operation at all levels of government‚ including the broader water sector players could have a positive effect in this regard...

There’s never been a more important time to support independent media.

From World War 1 to present-day cosmopolitan South Africa and beyond, the Sunday Times has been a pillar in covering the stories that matter to you.

For just R80 you can become a premium member (digital access) and support a publication that has played an important political and social role in South Africa for over a century of Sundays. You can cancel anytime.

Already subscribed? Sign in below.



Questions or problems? Email helpdesk@timeslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00.