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Oil Minister to take over municipal water supply
May 24, 2008 Edition 1
Siyabonga Mkhwanazi
The government plans to step in where councils have failed to provide safe drinking water.
Water Affairs and Forestry Minister Lindiwe Hendricks during her budget vote debate in Parliament yesterday said she planned to intervene and manage water quality in such municipalities.
This decision was informed by events that highlighted the inadequate quality of water in some areas - including the deaths of babies who allegedly drank contaminated tap water in the Eastern Cape and the failure by some local authorities to comply with regulations for providing quality water.
More than a month ago, the country was rocked by reports that close to 90 babies had died in the Ukhahlamba District Municipality after they had consumed dirty water.
This prompted the Water Affairs and Health departments to dispatch teams of specialists to establish the exact cause of the baby mortalities.
The Ukhahlamba municipality claimed some of the babies died as a result of HIV/Aids and being malnourished.
Hendricks highlighted concern that some councils were not ensuring people received quality water. She said her department's monitoring system indicated 94% of local authorities had met the required standards of water quality.
"What is of major concern and totally unacceptable is the 6% of municipalities, mainly in the rural areas, who do not comply with the minimum health standards for drinking water," she said.
"We are now looking at the legislation and regulatory framework to identify the means of taking over their water quality management function."
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