OVERVIEW
Water Restructured water boards have greater responsibilities.
SECTOR INSIGHT Companies and households are focussed on water saving like never before. • An agency has been created to help municipalities deliver water.
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new organisation has been formed to help municipalities deliver services. Research has shown that many municipalities, which in South Africa are the main delivery agent of water and waste-water services, are either functioning very badly or barely functioning at all. According to Water Wheel magazine, 37% of water delivered to the nation’s municipalities is lost, at a cost of R7-billion per year. This presents an opportunity for innovative companies to provide better pipes and smart meters. The Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency (MISA) falls under the Ministry for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and will assist municipalities to plan for, provide and maintain infrastructure. The first action of MISA was to commission 81 engineers and town planners to get to work in areas that need the most help. A study jointly commissioned by the Water Research Commission and the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) found that the country’s four-in-a-million ratio of engineers is a long way from the required 50-per-million. One response at national level was the importation of Cuban engineers to assist in the short term. Another response to the municipal problem is a new national strategy which gives a bigger role to well-resourced water boards such SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2019
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as Umgeni Water and Sedibeng Water. Rand Water has expanded its original footprint and now serves an area which includes Gauteng, and parts of Limpopo, North West, Mpumalanga and the Free State. The national Minister of Water and Sanitation is the shareholder, representing the government of South Africa. In terms of the National Water Resource Strategy, catchment area management agencies have been established to oversee water resource management on a regional basis. The Imkomati-Usuthu Catchment Management Agency covers Mpumalanga, parts of Limpopo and part of the Kingdom of Swaziland. Another example of a CMA is the Breede-Gouritz C a tc h m e n t M a n a g e m e n t Agency in the Western Cape. The National Water Resource Strategy takes into account groundwater to a far greater degree than previous plans. Extracting groundwater takes skill and money, but with droughts becoming commonplace it is likely to become a much higher priority in water planning.
