Cape Town - The Department of Water and Sanitation’s (DWS) recently released Blue Drop progress report on the quality and safety of drinking water supplied by water management authorities confirmed that the Western Cape had the largest percentage of water systems that complied with microbiological and chemical monitoring requirements.
While the province’s microbiological and chemical monitoring compliance surpassed that of the rest of the country, the report stated that poor water quality in the Western Cape remained of concern to the DWS.
DWS spokesperson Sputnik Ratau said the Blue Drop process measured and compared the results of the performance of water service institutions (such as the Western Cape Water supply system) and subsequently rewarded or penalised the institution upon evidence of their excellence or failures according to the minimum standards or requirements that were defined.
From the results of the report, Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell said the province had the largest percentage of water systems that complied with microbiological and chemical monitoring needs.
“Overall, the Western Cape achieved a score of 93.7% for microbiological compliance, 91.0% for chemical compliance, 82.1% for microbiological monitoring compliance, and 50.4% for chemical monitoring compliance,” Bredell said.
These results surpassed the national averages.
The report also evaluated water supply systems according to a risk profile – this involved the systems’ design capacity, operational capacity, water quality, technical skills, and the presence of a water safety plan.
In the Western Cape, 85% of water supply systems were marked as low-risk while 25% were marked as either high, medium or critical risk systems in the report (108 water supply systems were marked as low-risk, 10 as medium-risk, four as high-risk and five as critical-risk).
Bredell said systems that did not perform were worrisome and that local government would work with the DWS to improve the long-term quality and safety of water supply systems, particularly in Knysna and Kannaland.
“The poor water quality in Western Cape Province is of concern to DWS, in particular chemical water quality and the lack of sufficient samples to verify safety of water at all points in the network,” the report read.
The report recommended that all water services authorities (WSA) must urgently implement some of their suggestions to ensure all citizens can have access to safe drinking water.