Dept targeting water resources

2008-03-27 23:42

Michael Hamlyn

Cape Town - Water Affairs Minister Lindiwe Hendricks has declared herself and her department not satisfied with the level of protection being given to the country's water resources.

In a written reply to the Democratic Alliance's Mpowele Swathe, circulated on Thursday, she said that as trustee of water resources, the department had developed and put in place various policies and processes to manage and protect them.

"However, despite these measures the department is aware of non-compliance and poor performance," she said.

She added that some wastewater treatment plants were in a good state and functioning well, but many were not.

"This concern is not only limited to the condition of the country's wastewater infrastructure, but also includes its effective functioning, its management and compliance," she said.

Unacceptable situations

"The impact on sustainable and effective customer services, as well as on the environment is a serious concern."

She said the impact on the environment and consumers was a serious concern.

The Umsunduzi River, parts of the Vaal and Jukskei rivers and Hartbeespoort Dam were all examples of unacceptable situations, she said.

Despite the fact that water treatment was the responsibility of local water authorities, the department was taking various actions in this regard.

"Policies, legislation, regulations and licencing protocol have been put in place," she said in her reply.

"Extended monitoring systems are under development. Various guidelines and support systems have been, and are being, developed.

"Furthermore, institutional capacity-building initiatives are under way, direct operational support provided to some institutions and a bulk infrastructure fund has been established."

Hendricks said the infrastructure fund at R1.4bn rand was relatively small and could only fund a portion of the need.

Swathe also asked the minister about the pollution of the Wonderfontein Spruit, which has been the subject of two reports by the national nuclear regulator.

She told him that an intergovernmental committee for remediation of mining-related radioactive contamination had been established.

Hot-spot areas

The Wonderfontein Spruit catchment area had been identified as a priority area for remediation and a technical working group had been established to address specific clean-up actions.

The technical group had already met, she said, and was in the process of appointing a team of specialists who would identify and rank hot-spot areas targeted for remedial action.

This team of specialists also would provide the regulators with a remediation plan for the identified hotspots.

The regulators intended to embark on the clean-up action in collaboration with the mining-interest group in the area.

- I-Net Bridge (News24)