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WATER POLLUTION & WATER CHALLENGES PUBLIC HEARINGS

18 JUNE 2008

NGWATHE LOCAL MUNICIPALITY

Presented By

Mr. M.J. Toona

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Layout Map Ngwathe Local Municipality (Overview) Broad overview of Water Supply in Ngwathe LM Briefing on Water Quality issues (WSDP) Challenges encountered in attaining the above Relationship between various role-players at national, provincial and

local level in terms of Compliance Mechanisms Awareness programmes undertaken in your Municipality to alert

communities of risks associated with water contamination Monthly reports to DWAF on water quality Availability of funds in our Municipality to address water quality issues Technical and Scientific skills to purify water The role and assistance offered by National DWAF, Regional DWAF,

DPLG and Water board Conclusion

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• We are doing water quality monitoring in the following towns on daily basis: Parys, Vredefort, Koppies and Edinville. • Heilbron is covered from Rand Water who are the service providers for this town. • Water Quality Monitoring starts where raw water is drawn from the source to the works/ storage reservoirs until the water reaches the consumers (i.e. samples taken from the inlet raw –water; etc). . Each Town has its sampling points taken on daily basis by the municipality. Fezile Dabi District – weekly & DWAF – monthly basis. . We have a laboratory in Parys having the following equipments - DR 3000 Spectrometer - ph meters - Conductivity meter - Turbrumetre - Pocket coulometer

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BRIEFING ON THE … (Cont…)

• We are able to do Chemical and Bacteriological Test after sampling

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CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED …

• Colour and taste of water due to unavailability of DAF (Dissolved Air Flotation) unit .• High rise in demand of water than the plants can supply (demand vs supply) due to bucket eradication programme and supply of water to new developing areas (i.e. the plant has to achieve its normal processes before the sump can be full).• Ageing infrastructure ( regular pipe burst on the old asbestos pipes, plants being overrun due to high demand of water, waterborne sewer systems that causes plant equipments not being serviced regularly as required)• Cleaning of sumps; scouring (cleaning of pipes) that has to be done at least twice a year not happening due high demand and old water network with no return/ stop valves at regular intervals. Storage capacity needs to be increased to accommodate the above.

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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN …

• The compliance strategy that is being used among various role players is really assisting to a certain extent. Information is generated at the Municipal level scrutinized before is taken to District, Provincial and National. Along the line one stakeholder might be misrepresented as a report not being supported by the author. (Regular meetings has to be convened if the Municipality/ institution is not complying to do checking).

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AWARENESS PROGRAMMES UNDERT…

• Those programmes are done through Community meetings/ Ward Committee meetings and also through Local Media (News Papers and Radio) and through the Political offices (Speaker and Mayor)

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MONTHLY REPORTS TO DWAF…

• Monthly reports are sent to DWAF (Region/ Province) and DWAF do monthly visits to our Municipality for WQ test.

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AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS TO ADRESS …

• Based on the challenges mentioned earlier (on slide 8) the Municipality is unable to address water quality issues completely if the situation persists.•N.B. i.e. Parys plant will require R118m for upgrading. Our DoRA allocation (MIG funds) for this financial year is R 23.3m.

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TECHNICAL AND SCIENTIFIC SKILLS …

•We have a dedicated team led by Technician (Registered with DWAF as a Class 5 operator) and 1 Lab Assistant responsible for all 4 towns excluding Heilbron which is being managed by Rand Water. Other operators undergone training but not registered.

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ROLE & ASSISTANCE OFFERED BY NAT…

• All stakeholders as mentioned assist the Municipality a lot. The support they are showing really shows commitment. N.B. Our Municipality together with Fezile Dabi District Municipality established a water quality management forum in May 2008 that currently sits on Mondays (weekly) to discuss shortcomings pertaining to quality of water around the Municipality.

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CONCLUSIONS

• We as Ngwathe LM strive to maintain the standard of water at all cost for the benefit of our community/ citizens. • As part of the world known Heritage site (Vredefort Dome), we are committed to ensure that people come and invest in our Municipality and they are not discouraged by challenges faced by our institution.

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THANK YOU