The quality of drinking water in Makhado (Louis Trichardt), Elim, Musina, Mutale, Mutshedzi, Tshedza and Tshifhire is excellent.

This was one of the more positive findings of the Department of Water Affairs’ (DWA) Blue Drop report for 2011, released at the end of June. As with the DWA’s Green Drop programme, the Blue Drop initiative was also launched by the DWA in 2008 as a regulatory programme to help improve the quality of drinking water throughout South Africa.

As a whole, the report states, drinking-water-quality management services in the Vhembe District Municipality are, however, yet to get on par with the expectations of the regulatory programme.

“Drinking water quality in the Kutama and Malamulele systems demands immediate attention of the municipal administration and governance. Water within the systems poses a risk to public health. Disinfection needs to be optimised immediately,” the report warns.

There are 12 drinking-water supply systems in the Vhembe District Municipality, namely Thohoyandou, Elim, Kutama/Sithumule, Makhado (Louis Trichardt), Malamulele, Musekwa, Musina, Mutale, Mutshedzi, Nzhelele, Tshedza and Tshifhire/Murunwa. Overall, the Vhembe District Municipality achieved a 45,06% Blue Drop score in the province, with most municipalities showing a decline in performance from 2010.

Most perform poorer

Louis Trichardt’s Blue Drop score declined from 54,13% in 2010 to 44,66% this year, with Thohoyandou dropping from 58,13% to 51,65%. The other water-supply systems who recorded poorer performances than last year were Elim (from 32,5% to 29,73%), Malamulele (from 44,13% to 36,93%), Musina (from 44% to 32%) and Tshedza (from 44% to 39,2%). The Kutama/Sinthumule and Tshifhire/Murunwa systems obtained scores of 21,03% and 43,65% respectively, with no previous scores available. The only water supply system in the district municipality to show improvement was Mutale, from 41,25% last year to 50,10% in 2011.

The two worst-scoring water-supply systems in Vhembe were Musekwa and Nzhelele.

“The complete lack of monitoring data for [the] Musekwa and Nzhelele systems makes it impossible to evaluate drinking-water quality compliance. From a conservative perspective, [the] DWA has to assume that water within these systems also poses a risk to public health,” the report states, recommending that immediate monitoring must commence.

Due to the lack of data, Musekwa’s score dropped from 40,25% last year to a dismal 10,18% in 2011, while Nzhelele’s score dropped to 12,18% compared to its 41,50% in 2010.

Findings

The Blue Drop report’s overall findings for Vhembe, among others, include that their water safety plan needs to improve to cover all the systems.

“Other aspects requiring improvement include a more thorough assessment of risk, inclusion of a risk prioritisation method, while a full SANS (South African National Standard) analysis of raw and final water has to be conducted to confirm the capability of the various treatment systems to address all contaminant possibilities,” the report states. It warns that, without management support and available budget, “drinking water quality management services will never adhere to all the requirements of satisfactory performance.”

Limpopo´s overall performance

Overall, the Limpopo Province achieved a 64% Blue Drop score. All 11 water-service authorities, such as the Vhembe District Municipality, were evaluated, as well as all of the 64 drinking-water supply systems in the province. When comparing the 2011 report to that of 2010 and 2009, one can see that, the same as with 2010, all 64 systems were assessed, compared to the 37 in 2009. This year, five systems achieved Blue Drop Certification, compared to the three in 2010 and zero in 2009. It was also found that 31,3% of all systems are now in excellent and very good state, compared to the 14% in 2010 and 0% in 2009.

A Blue Drop Certification was awarded to the Modimolle Municipality (Magalies Water), with two Blue Drop Certifications for the Mopani District Municipality (Lepelle Water and Greater Tzaneen Municipality). Polokwane District Municipality (Lepelle Water) also received two Blue Drop Certifications. Polokwane Municipality was also the top achiever in the province, with a 92,61% Blue Drop score.

“The trend analysis indicates that Limpopo is succeeding in improving its Provincial Blue Drop score slowly but methodically over time. The provincial scores increased from 40,8% (2009) to 54,9% (2010) to 64% in 2011,” the report states.