Water and Sanitation Minister, Senzo Mchunu, has allayed fears of water outages in the country and reiterated that his department is working towards ensuring water security.
Mchunu was speaking during the Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA) Biennial Conference and Exhibition held at the Sandton Convention Centre on Wednesday.
He joined WISA CEO, Dr Lester Goldman, along with a number of water experts from across the country and overseas, to discuss ways to improve and enhance efforts to ensure water security around the globe.
Mchunu spoke about the status of water in the country and allayed fears of the country facing a possible severe water outage.
While acknowledging concerns about water scarcity in different parts of the country, Mchunu said there was no need for citizens to be alarmed and maintained that a total water outage would not happen in the near future.
“I can state, categorically, that we do not have an immediate threat of a water outage. However, this does not mean we are not a water scarce country, and that people should not use water sparingly. We do not have an immediate water crisis so to say, but we should not lower our guard,” Mchunu said.
Highlighting some of the interventions undertaken in water strained communities, including the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan, Mchunu reiterated the need for private partnerships to strengthen efforts of a water secured country.
“There is a need to increase participation of private sector partnerships through finance and skills enrichment in the water sector. Besides this, we are strengthening our role in regulating, supporting, and intervening in municipalities where municipal water and sanitation services are deteriorating, linked to the reinstatement of blue, green and no drop regulatory monitoring tools,” Mchunu said.
The Minister reassured that the Ministry is prioritising the hands-on monitoring of progress with all major projects, which have been historically delayed, these include the Giyani Water Project, the Vaal River Intervention Project, Hammanskraal water quality concerns, as well as the Umzimvubu and uMkhomazi Water Projects, among others.
“The department is ensuring planning of projects in financial years before they are implemented, so that they are ready for implementation when the financial year starts. We have also developed an Infrastructure Procurement Strategy in line with the National Treasury Framework for Infrastructure Delivery and Procurement Management,” the Minister said.
He said this is done to enable smarter, quicker and more effective infrastructure procurement.
He added that the department will be implementing the strategy over the coming months. – SAnews.gov.za
