WISA • CEO’S COMMENT
GREEN DROP REPORT BRINGS BOTH GOOD AND BAD NEWS The WISA 2022 Conference will reflect upon on the water and sanitation sector’s journey since the last conference, such as the recent release of the Green Drop report. Technologies and methodologies to improve these results will be discussed at our conference under the sub-theme ‘Stemming the tide’. By Lester Goldman, CEO, WISA
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ISA has been calling for the reinstatement of the Green Drop, Blue Drop and No Drop certification programmes since these assessments were suspended in 2014. When the programmes were in place, there was widespread improvement in know-how and compliance across much (regrettably not all) of the water and sanitation sector. We support the release of the 2022 Green Drop report. While the results are disappointing, we believe that, once again, the Green Drop report will incentivise improved wastewater treatment performance. It provides an important means to measure the performance of wastewater treatment plants, thereby providing the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and the sector at large with the information needed to plan for and implement improvement.
Results
Minister Senzo Mchunu and the entire DWS team, as well as the
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various consultants who did the audits and prepared the report, should be commended. This was the culmination of a lot of work. WISA is deeply concerned about the state of wastewater treatment plants. The audit covered 995 wastewater networks and treatment works, of which 334 (39%) of municipal wastewater systems were identified to be in a critical state in 2021. It remains unacceptable that sewage spillages and failing wastewater treatment works are detrimentally impacting our environment, as well as the livelihood and health of many of our communities. We need to recognise that these wastewater treatment plants are part of a system, and that system needs to be addressed in its entirety – from stormwater drainage systems and rivers to sanitation in informal settlements. This crisis and the solutions to it have been discussed at length. It is now time to make some difficult decisions, allocate much needed resources and implement solutions.
Of the 850 plants audited nationwide last year, fewer than 3% (22 wastewater treatment plants) were accredited with Green Drop status. These ‘excellent’ Green Drop plants are operated by the City of Ekurhuleni, City of Cape Town and Sasol, and the district or local municipalities of Lesedi, iLembe, uMgungundlovu, Witzenberg, Bitou, Drakenstein, Saldanha Bay and Mossel Bay. WISA congratulates the recipients of the Green Drop awards, many of which are WISA members, such as ERWAT. ERWAT has been contracted by the City of Ekurhuleni to run and operate wastewater treatment plants and won six awards. This is a model that should be considered by other municipalities. I am looking forward to discussing in greater length the success stories from the Green Drop report and focusing on how these can be replicated elsewhere at the upcoming WISA conference.
