South Africans used
to be able to boast
that our drinking
water quality was
among the best in the
world. No longer.
Mike Muller has managed a
waterworks and rehabilitated
a city’s sewage system. As DG
of DWAF (1997–2005) he also
established the current regulatory
system for water and sanitation
services. He is currently a visiting
professor at th e Wits School
of Governance and does a lot of
advisory work out of the country
to avoid treading on the toes of his
former colleagues.
About the author
undertake. They could be private firms or
even the regional water utilities that the
minister wants to establish, before she
quite knows what they will do.
But, if we are to regain our reputation
for safe water countrywide, some drastic
action will be needed. And then, we will
need to turn to the more difficult question
of reliability. u
But no evidence existed that it ever
harmed anyone in a waterworks. But
the scare took the cheapest test method
off the market in many countries.
Operators had to buy packs of DPD
pills, which cost over 10 times as much.
The result: less testing and sometimes
poorer quality water.
The other reason that water
quality is not adequately managed is
organisation. Some of those bright
blue swimming pools were probably
maintained by specialist pool cleaning
services. That makes sense (if you can
afford it) and may even be cheaper
in the long run since it should avoid
over- and under-dosing and occasional
panics over algae attacks.
The same solution can (and in
some instances, does) contribute to
water quality management in small
municipalities. They need sound,
simple, cost-effective procedures and
sufficient training and organisation to
implement them. Government could set
up a support service to train staff and
procure the equipment and products.
Or the work could be contracted
to competent service providers to