Local authorities support Green Drop system

A small team of waste water experts travel around South Africa to conduct an audit and give a score to each waste water system within a municipality. This is also a platform to intervene in municipalities with low Green Drop scores and in need of urgent intervention.

The number of municipalities participating in the Green Drop assessments has steadily increased since 2009. In this regard, 152 municipalities participated in the 2013 Green Drop assessments, compared to 98 municipalities assessed in 2009 - an increase of 55%. Similarly, the number of waste water systems assessed in 2009 has also increased from 444 to almost 1,000 waste water systems in 2013, representing a 56% increase over five years.

Positive response

In this regard, 100% of municipalities have responded positively to the Green Drop challenge and showed up for audits every year, with more and more municipal systems having managed to achieve higher scores each year, despite the stringent nature of the Green Drop Certification criteria which was designed to incrementally become more rigorous with time as the programme aims to change behaviours, improve and stretch performance and manage risk more effectively for all South African citizens.

The assessment data from the Green Drop system also suggests that municipal performance in waste water management has significantly improved steadily over time. Today, there are more good performers than in 2009 and 2011. In 2013, more than 90% of municipalities had design details, drawings and a clear knowledge of their systems as well as ability to make informed decisions compared to less than 20% in 2009, with majority of municipalities measuring various types of flows as well as showing flow meter calibration certificates to verify credibility of their flow information.

Critical risks

Generally, the risk based approach, through the use of the Waste water Risk Abatement Plan (W2RAP) guideline has played a significant role in enabling municipalities to identify their critical risks; plan in advance and motivate successfully for budgets and other resources to council to address the identified risks. Currently, 77% of all waste water systems have developed site-specific W2RAPs which are now in implementation phase, leading to an overall improvement in waste water management.

Similarly, the national risk profile for waste water treatment has also significantly improved, with 9 municipalities on the high-to-critical risk categories in 2009 moving to the medium-to-low risk categories by 2013. Since the Green Drop was implemented, a notable reduction in the national average cumulative risk ratio (CRR) has been observed. Continuous risk abatement translates to lower risk scores, improved effluent quality and improved waste water management in South Africa.