NGWATHE LOCAL MUNICIPALITY
WATER POLLUTION & WATER
CHALLENGES PUBLIC HEARINGS
18 JUNE 2008
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
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