SUPPLIED
President Jacob Zuma and his deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, joined cabinet members in wearing green T-shirts in Cape Town yesterday to show their support for the COP17 conference that will be taking place in Durban from November 28 to December 9. Picture: Kopano Tlape
Sipho Khumalo
INSTEAD of quenching their thirst by opening bottle after bottle of water, delegates attending the 17th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP17) in Durban next week will be served tap water in jugs, safe in the knowledge that the city’s water rates among the best in the world.
With the city having attained Blue Drop Water certification from the Water Affairs Department in July, the International Convention Centre, the venue of COP17, decided not to supply bottled water.
ICC CEO Julie-May Ellingson said the city’s water was “top class”.
At a ceremony yesterday to mark the city’s Blue Drop certification, the department’s acting director of institutional establishment, Jay Reddy, said the metro, in conjunction with Umgeni Water, which provides bulk water to the city, had continuously ensured that the drinking water quality management services provided was of “excellent nature”.
“This is evident in the metro’s assessment score, which despite decreasing minimally from 96.10 percent in 2009/10 to 95.71 percent in 2010/11, is still an illustrious score.
“The metro has also shown significant improvement regarding waste water quality management services by achieving a score of 80 percent in 2009/10 and increasing this to 90.60 percent in 2010/11,” said Reddy.
Blue Drop certification is issued after rigorous assessments are done by independent water quality experts.
The deputy head of technical support at eThekwini Water and Sanitation, Frank Stevens, said the city felt “honoured” at achieving the certification.
“We are very proud about this certification, which means our four million consumers can safely drink our water straight from the tap. This is not the case in some major cities I have just visited in the US,” he said.
Umgeni Water chairman Andile Mahlalutye said the utility was ecstatic to share the glory associated with receiving Blue Drop status.
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