CERTIFICATION
Blue Drop and Green Drop cer tification programme revitalised In a bid to achieve excellence in drinking water and wastewater quality management, the Department of Water and Sanitation is set to conduct a full 2021 Green Drop audit and Blue Drop progress assessment. By Kirsten Kelly
THE FIVE STEPS TO GREEN DROP CERTIFICATION: apacity Management: process 1 Ccontrol, maintenance, technical/
2 3 4 5
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his is one of the most important days in the Department of Water and Sanitation’s (DWS’s) 2021 calendar year,” said Sputnik Ratau, the DWS’s acting chief director for communications at the Green Drop and Blue Drop certification programme
webinar, where its revitalisation was announced. Mentioned in President Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address and part of the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan to establish water security for the next 50 years, the Blue Drop and Green Drop certification programme
TABLE 1 Key programme dates
Key events
Green Drop audit
Blue Drop PAT
Regional symposiums
July 2021
July 2021
Distribute Blue Drop PAT
End of July 2021
WSIs to upload portfolio of evidence (POE)
Mid-August 2021
Start audits and site visits
August 2021
Moderation
August 2021
Completion of Blue Drop PATs
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October 2021
Confirmation virtual audit
Mid-November 2021
Final moderation
December 2021
December 2021
Release ready report
March 2022
March 2022
JUL /AUG 2021
engineering and scientific Environmental Management: wastewater risk abatement, effluent quality monitoring, sludge management, laborator y credibility Financial Management: wastewater operations cost determination, energy demand, operations and maintenance budget and expenditure, supply chain management Technical Management: WWTW design capacity, process/audit condition assessment, sewer main inspection, asset register, local regulation Quality Compliance: monitoring information, authorisation, effluent compliance sludge classification
will protect the health and well-being of people and the environment, and improve water services and resources through regulation.
Incentive-based regulation
Leonardo Manus, chief director: Regulation, Compliance and Enforcement at the DWS, said that the certification programmes are part of incentive-based regulation. “This type of regulation is all about the people who take responsibility for wastewater management. It is not a weaker form of regulation. It does not mean that the certification programme is voluntary. The National Water Act (No. 36 of 1998) states that the DWS has a right to information that assists it in its duties – meaning that if the DWS asks for information and it is not forthcoming, that is an offence.” Manus went on to say that the certification programme aims to create
