6. What about the reporting of results?
One of the cornerstones of successful regulation is the principle that‘ the public must know’. It is thus important for a regulator to be not only objective but also transparent at all times and publish results. The Blue Drop and Green Drop reports from 2009 to 2012 were published and disseminated on the DWS website, and handed out as printed copies at special national events where the results were announced with wide media coverage. Unfortunately, this good practice stopped in 2013. After pressure in parliament, and numerous requests and threats by civil society organisations, the 2014 Blue Drop Report was loaded on the DWS website. This was only in February 2016, and happened quietly and many months late.( Only a very brief Executive summary for the 2013 Green Drop Report had been released, which provides a national picture but no details on individual performance.) The bottom line is, we as the public are unaware of the status of the water in our taps or the sewage discharged.
7. What about steps taken by the regulator to ensure compliance?
The follow-up actions on non-compliance have been lacking for many years now. One example: the 2013 Green Drop Report mentions several systems that had been issued‘ Purple Drops’ in 2013. These 248 systems received scores of less than 30 % during 2013, thereby earning the undesirable status of‘ systems in crises’. Systems in crises, therefore, represent a 30 % slice of all WWTWs regulated. It is doubtful if any action had been taken against any of these municipalities.
8. What is our progress on drinking water quality?
The sad reality is that when the DWS lost momentum on the BD and GD programmes, the municipalities also lost interest and went downhill— this is clear from Table 1, where total BD scores showed a steady improvement over four years from 25 to a high total of 98 in 2012, dropping dramatically to 44 in 2014. The national BD score went down as well.
Graphical representation of the number of Blue Drops awarded over a five-year period.
Table 1 Category |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2014 |
National Blue Drop Score |
51.4 % |
67.2 % |
72.9 % |
87.6 % |
79.6 % |
Number of systems assessed |
402 |
787 |
914 |
931 |
1036 |
Number of Blue Drops awarded |
25 |
38 |
66 |
98 |
44 |