East Cape bogged down on bad end of sanitation spectrum

The shocking state of the Eastern Cape’s sewerage system was highlighted in the department of water and sanitation’s Green Drop Watch Report on Monday.

According to the report, the Eastern Cape is tied for thirdlast place, with the Northern Cape, in the provinces that have water service systems in a “critical” condition. Only the Free State and Limpopo are worse.

The quality of the Eastern Cape’s drinking water ranks about halfway when compared with the other provinces, with six of its treatment plants showing “bad” microbiological compliance and 11 in the red for chemical compliance.

Microbiological compliance measures how well the treatment process is removing harmful bacteria and other micro-organisms from the water.

Chemical compliance measures the chemical suitability of the water for human consumption, as well as for protection of infrastructure and household equipment.

Of the wastewater treatment plants assessed in the Eastern Cape, 48 are in a critical state and though 45 of these authorities have submitted corrective plans, only two have implemented them.

Water and sanitation department director-general Dr Sean Phillips said in Pretoria yesterday that since the last Green Drop Report in April last year — which identified 334 wastewater systems in 90 municipalities that were in a critical condition — noncompliance notices had been issued to all the transgressing municipalities.

“The department received a 50% response in the form of plans from municipalities for 168 of the 334 wastewater systems, but ... at the end of March 2023, only 34 of the 168 plans submitted were being implemented.

“For those municipalities which did not submit corrective action plans, the department has issued directives in terms of the National Water Act compelling them to submit such plans.”

According to the watch reports, released as a precursor to the release of the full Green Drop, Blue Drop and No Drop reports later this year, the quality of SA’s drinking water is worse than it was a decade ago

— and we are wasting nearly half of it.

On the Blue Drop Watch Report, Phillips said 151 of 1,035 water treatment systems in the country and the water service

authorities had been assessed.

“In terms of the condition of water treatment infrastructure, 3% of the sampled systems were in a critical infrastructural condition, 12% were in a poor infrastructural condition, 49% were in an average infrastructural condition, 31% in a good infrastructural condition and 5% in an excellent infrastructural condition.

“A decade ago, in the 2012 Blue Drop report, only 10% of municipalities had bad or poor microbiological water quality, as opposed to 50% in this sample.

“This indicates that there has been a deterioration in drinking water quality since the last Blue Drop report was done.”

Ndlambe’s Cannon Rocks treatment plant is in the best shape of the plants assessed in the Eastern Cape, scoring slightly over 99.9% for microbiological compliance and 99.9% for chemical compliance.

Kouga’s Jeffreys Bay plant is just behind with 99.9% for both categories and Nelson Mandela Bay’s Linton Grange plant is at 99.9% for microbiological compliance but in the red with 87.2% for chemical compliance.

Sundays River was scored worst with a code red 60.42% for microbiological and 68.06% chemical compliance.

On the No Drop Watch Report, Phillips said the aim was to estimate non-revenue water, which comprised leaks and the unbilled component of authorised consumption.

The international average for non-revenue water was below 30% and, in 2015, when SA’s last No Drop Report was published, the national non-revenue water was estimated at 35%.

“This watch report estimates that of the 4.3-million cubic metres a year we treat for municipal use, two-million cubic metres a year, or 46%, is non-revenue water.

“So our per capita consumption is approximately 215 litres per day compared to the international average of 173l per day.

“This is an anomaly given that SA is a water-scarce country.

“The high level of physical losses in municipal distribution systems is one of the main reasons for the relatively high level of per capita consumption in SA.”

According to the No Drop Watch Report figures, the nonrevenue water is relatively low in the Eastern Cape, at 47.1%, with Gauteng at 41.9% and the Western Cape lowest at 29.6%.

He said overall the watch reports were a wake-up call for SA.