Tide turns for Water Affairs dept

Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa made the announcement in Cape Town on Tuesday, 13 September 2011.

For the past few years, she said the department had gone through a rough time as it received qualified reports from the auditor general.

"The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) has received several concerns regarding deficiencies in financial and operational management of the DWA.

"I have also personally observed deficiencies in the configuration of the DWA and the sector which hampers the agility of the DWA to deliver services," she said.

The 12-member committee, chaired by former Minister Brigitte Mabandla, has already embarked on a business process, redesigning intervention strategies to fix the problems.

Molewa said initiatives to address the backlog on the refurbishment of infrastructure initiatives were being developed through "effective long term planning" to determine funding requirements to maintain the infrastructure.

The department was set to work with municipalities to address challenges such as effluent discharges into rivers and streams and aging water infrastructure.

"We will introduce new Regulations for Process Controlling, which incorporates mandatory training for all water and wastewater process controllers, with the object of enhancing and professionalising water and waste water treatment skills," said Molewa.

She highlighted that the water use licence backlog, which could hamper economic development, would be sorted out to ensure, among others, the capacity to conduct applications, application education and responsibility for applications.

"The improvement of this process is essential as it is a source of revenue for future funding.

"The committee along with the National Water Advisory Council is diligently driving the DWA's focus on monitoring and utilisation of groundwater resources, especially addressing the Acid Mine Drainage issue, which threatens the programmes to manage water quality," she said.

Mabandla said they were "hard at work, and getting good cooperation from the department."

"I'm working with a diligent team of experts," she said, indicating that some of their met targets would be announced in November.