The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

The greatest threat to water quality in South Africa is failing waste water infrastructure. There are 852 waste water treatment works (WWTW) in the country and a significant number of them are in a poor state, releasing untreated sewage or partially treated sewage into the environment. The last Green Drop Report, which assesses the level of compliance of WWTWs against various predetermined criteria, was released on 29 April 2010. In that report it was revealed that only 32 WWTWs, or 7.4% of the WWTWs actually assessed, received the acclaimed Green Drop status. But since only 53% of the 852 WWTWs were actually assessed in the last report the percentage of WWTWs that received Green Drop status is actually lower. The next edition of the Green Drop report is scheduled to be released on 30 June 2011. 

As WWTWs are operated by municipalities it is critical that voters are able to determine the degree to which the municipalities they live in have effectively managed these systems. For this reason the DA will today write to the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs requesting her to release the Green Drop report before the local government elections on 18 May 2011.
Members of the public cannot readily access up-to-date information on the functioning of waste water treatment plants in their municipalities. Poorly functioning WWTWs can affect environmental health and the quality of water used for agriculture and drawn upon directly by some poor communities that do not yet have access to potable water. Late last year the DA asked the former Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs in Parliament whether this information could be provided in a systematic way. The Minister said no such information was available to the public, and the reason she cited was that providing this information would be administratively burdensome and the results could be open to “serious misinterpretation”. These arguments by the Minister were spurious and undermine the rights of citizens to access information important to their wellbeing. The Green Drop Report is all that is available, but at best it provides a snap shot of performance over an extended period of time. 

As things stand now, voters will go to the polls on 18 May 2011 with only a report issued more than a year before as a gauge to determine how incumbent administrations have run their respective WWTWs. And that report was for an assessment period that concluded in 2009.
Should the lack of up-to-date information give us reason for concern? It certainly should. The last available risk-based assessment for WWTWs across South Africa (a process separate from the Green Drop and measuring very limited criteria) gave an overview of the problems that the country as a whole faces. In the Free State, 99% of WWTWs had effluent discharge that did not comply with effluent discharge standards, while the figure was 96% for the Northern Cape, 90% for Mpumalanga and 89% for the Eastern Cape. Municipalities in the Western Cape performed the best, with only 19% of WWTWs having effluent discharge that did not comply with the standards. The number of WWTWs that have unknown flows or flows that exceed their design capacity is also an area of concern. In Limpopo, North West and the Eastern Cape, 95% of WWTWs are in this position.
There can be significant improvements made across South Africa, and granted, the Green Drop Certification Programme is an admirable effort designed to incentivise improved performance by municipalities. But the national Department of Water, which is the regulator of the water sector, must not be defensive about providing information on the functioning of WWWTs on a regular basis. Residents of towns and cities across South Africa who take an active interest in their environment have a right to know the risks they may face. But they also have the right to determine whether or not the administrative bodies of their municipalities are managing their waste water treatment works effectively.