Water regulation by DWS
The Department of Water and Sanitation
(DWS) is legislated by the Water
Services Act as the water services
regulator. Some of the important ‘high-
value principles’ for a public entity, as
captured in section 195(1) of the South
African Constitution, are currently not
visible in the workings of the national
regulator. For example, “Transparency
must be fostered by providing the public
with timely, accessible, and accurate
information” (RSA, 1996). On the contrary,
important reports, such as the Blue Drop
a nd Green Drop reports, are not released
The International Water Association
(IWA) Manual on the Human Rights to
Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation for
Practitioners (IWA, 2015) was drafted
to serve as an implementation manual
for regulators and water providers, and
tackles the water safety plan aspect in a
practical way, by stating that:
“Absolute safety is an aspirational goal;
in real life, it is impossible to eliminate all
water-associated hazards and their inherent
health risks. Acceptable risk levels are linked
to social acceptability and the affordability
of managing the risks. The ‘level of safety/
cost’ curve is one of diminishing returns.
This means that the application of singular
standards worldwide is not feasible.”
SDG indicators for safe water
As part of the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development, the United
2010 2011 2012 2014
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
What does a Blue Drop
Certificate mean?
The last published (2012) Blue Drop
Report from the Department of Water
Affairs (DWA) (RSA, 2012) reflects on the
results of an incentive-based drinking-
water quality regulation process, where
a Blue Drop score is based on a weighted
score of several key indicators, including:
• Water safety planning (including WSP
process, risk assessment, monitoring
risks, and incident management);
• Process control and management
competency (including registration of
process controllers);
• Compliance with drinking-water
quality national standards (including
scores for microbiological and
References
1. Bain et al. (2015). Global assessment
of exposure to faecal contamination
through drinking water based on a
systematic review. Tropical Medicine
and International Health.
2. IWA (2015). Manual on the Human
Rights to Safe Drinking Water and
Sanitation for Practitioners.
3. Muller, H. (2013). Personal notes
made at meeting of the WHO
Task Force on drinking water
quality. Geneva.
4. Constitution of the Republic of South
Africa (1996). Republic of South
Africa.
5. Department of Water Affairs (2012).
Blue Drop Report, 2012. Pretoria.
6. United Nations (2017). Sustainable
Development Goals. [Online] UN.
Available from: www.un.org/
sustainabledevelopment
7. World Health Organisation (2011).
Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality,
4th ed. Geneva: WHO.
8. World Health Organisation (2013).
Water Quality and Health Strategy
2013–2020. Geneva: WHO.
9. World Health Organisation (2017).
Progress Report on Water, Sanitation
and Hygiene. (JMP report by WHO
and Unesco)Geneva.
Water Sewage & Effluent September/October 2017
defined as use of an improved drinking
water source that is located on
premises, available when needed, and
free from faecal and priority chemical
contamination. This is now reflected
in the latest global report by the WHO
and Unesco (JMP, 2017), which could
not verify that South African drinking
water is “safely managed” due to
“insufficient data”.
IWA guidelines
2009 National Blue Drop score
South Africa, it means that safe drinking
water must comply with chemical,
microbiological, and physical quality
standards as set out in the South African
national standard for potable water,
SANS 241, for 365 days of the year.
Category
Table 1: Blue Drops awarded from 2009 to 2014
chemical compliance, efficiency of
monitoring programme, and credibility
of drinking water quality analysis);
• Management accountability and local
regulation (management commitment,
regular submission of drinking-water
quality results to regulator, and
publication of results); and
• Asset management (including asset
register, availability of maintenance
team, and budget).
Nations General Assembly has adopted
17 new Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs), which include a goal on water
and sanitation (SDG goal number 6).
This goal includes a specific target on
drinking water, namely:
Target 6.1: “By 2030, achieve
universal and equitable access to safe
and affordable drinking water for all.”
(UN, 2017)
While there will still be a drive to
provide access to a basic water supply,
there are three notable variations of
the new SDGs when compared with the
well-known Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs). Additional focus will be
on providing water to premises such
as in the yard or the house. Reliability
and functionality of water supply
systems will be emphasised and thirdly,
water must be safe to drink and meet
quality guidelines.
The Joint Monitoring Programme
(JMP) of the WHO and Unesco has
begun to monitor these aspects and it
reports globally on what they coined
“safely managed drinking water”.
Safely managed drinking water is
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