Is there a water crisis? - Article: Water supplies threatened?

Reports that South Africa is facing a severe water crisis from extensive contamination of its revers and a rapidly deteriorating infrastructure have been denied by the Departments of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) and by the Department’s Minister, Lindiwe Hendricks.

According to a secret report compiled by the National Nuclear Regulator there is evidence that water supplies are carrying high levels of radioactive contamination and that certain crops that use contaminated water from rivers are also carrying higher than permitted levels of radiation.

Added to this is the allegation that the municipal water distribution infrastructure is gradually collapsing as metropolitan and local authorities battle to replace or repair the existing infrastructure.

All these allegations have been denied by DWAF, which is spending R1.25-billion on improving the dams and assisting ‘smaller’ local authorities to cope with damaged infrastructure. The money, allocated by the National Treasury in April 2006, will be spent over 5 years.

160 dams around South Africa currently do not meet the Department’s safety standards.
Vast amounts of money – estimated at R180-billion countrywide, but denied by the DAWF – need to be spent on rehabilitating existing infrastructure.
Safety and rehabilitation programmes are underway at 42 dams. There is no clarity on what is being planned for the balance of 118 dams that are not safe or need to be rehabilitated.
Water contamination incidents have been confirmed in Louis Trichardt, Delmas, Standerton, the Klip River, Tweelopiespruit, Wonderfonteinspruit and at Rietvlei outside Tshwane. At Delmad and Standerton hundreds of people have had to be treated and several deaths have occurred.
Municipal infrastructure in major metropolitan areas and smaller local councils is battling to cope with water distribution to its residents, with sustained water cuts of up to a week in areas of Johannesburg to several months in smaller outlying areas such as Groblersdal.
Last year alone, the DWAF supplied basic sanitation services to 940’000 people and connected 1.25 million people to the water grid around the country.
A number of sewerage works and water recycling plants have contaminated municipal areas because electricity power cuts have prevented the plants from working, allowing raw effluent to flow into nearby rivers.
Several waste water plants are no longer functioning properly – particularly those near the Vaal Ricer - where residents have set up President’s Committees to try and force the authorities to stop discharging untreated effluent into the Klip and Vaal rivers.
High levels of Endocine Disrupting Compounds (EDCs) were found in the Rietvlei Dam, which was used by the Water Research Commission as a study site to establish what contamination exists in dams around South Africa. EDCs are man-made chemicals found in pesticides, fertilizers, personal care products, heavy metals, industrial chemicals and pharmaceuticals. These chemical shave an adverse effect on the endocrine system of living organisms, including humans. EDCs typically enter water trough runoff or wastewater discharges. The report found that there were hormones, industrial compounds and pesticides in South Africa’s water system.
Chinese Development Aid grants have supplied more than 3 066 kilometers of piping and 166 500 water meters to local authorities around the country. The water meters have been installed in new homes around the country.

In a statement release by Hendricks, she claims that South Africa’s drinking water quality is rated among the best in the world. However, the DWAF’s annual reports for 2006/07 indicated that 50 percent of dams are seriously impacted by waste discharged from treatment works.

It says that challenges facing irrigated agriculture include high sodium absorption ratios, electrical conductivity, pH and chloride. This is compounded by eutrophication or excessive plant growth, including algae in dams (particularly the Hartebeespoort Dam outside Thwane) around the country.

In the same annual report the DWAF concedes that in order to meet its targets of supplying basic water services to the more that four million people who do not have access to a water supply, there will need to be a 400 percent improvement in service delivery by local governments. It says this is a result of insufficient funding and a lack of implementation capacity.

The DWAF annual report also admits that the “sustainability of existing infrastructure is becoming a threat to progress made in providing water to communities” and says that it “will take the lead in developing a strategy to ensure sustainable water services delivery.

So far 37.4-million people have access to free water but the DWAF says that the lack of basic infrastructure is limiting the provision of water needy communities.

While the DWAF and its Minister deny that there are “problems” with South Africa’s water, it is clear that contaminated water from mining operations has flowed into the river systems and that vegetables and fish specimens collected in the Wonderfontainspruit Catchment Area west of Johannesburg contained radioactive uranium. The tests by the National Nuclear Regulator, have been extended to cattle and milk.

At least 30 percent of the country’s water treatment works need “immediate intervention” to prevent further outbreaks of waterborne diseases that include dysentery and typhoid. In major sewage spill in Durban, some rivers were found to contain bacteria hundreds of times higher than the recommended limit. There was a similar sewage spill in Louis Trichardt late last year. Researcher Jeff Rudin of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union says the breakdown of effective monitoring and treatment services in municipalities around the country is a “national disaster” just waiting to happen. He says that it’s only a matter of time before water contamination reaches catastrophic proportions.

These allegations, too, are denied by the DWAF although its deputy director general Cornelius Ruiters admits that the department is battling to retain its skilled staff and support under-rescued municipalities, which cannot maintain a consistent, clean water supply to all citizens in specific areas.

In terms of water quality, Water Service Authorities around the country reported acceptable drinking water quality of 60 percent nationally, up to 50 percent the previous year with Gauteng having the best figures of 75 percent compared with just 36 percent in Northern Cape and 37 percent in Mpumalanga.

South Africa is classified as a ‘water scarce’ region with rainfall that is less than the world average. Just over 1 200 kilolitres of fresh water is available for each person each year and with the growth in population, this allocation is dropping fast. South Africa has less water per person than the drier neighbouring countries of Namibia and Botswana.

Water supplies threatened? Not so says Water Affairs