Water Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica has asked the Treasury for a staggering R23 billion over the next six years to fix waste water treatment works that need “urgent” attention.
Sonjica said yesterday the bill for refurbishing the plants could rise even higher, as the figure was an estimate. She said that while there was reason for concern at the parlous state of the country’s sewage treatment works, “we have not reached crisis levels”.
She briefed journalists at the Union Buildings at the release of the much-delayed Green Drop report, an assessment of how sewage treatment works are performing. Poorly treated waste water pollutes land and rivers, posing problems for farmers, damage to eco- systems and health risks. Water experts have expressed concern over deteriorating conditions at the plants, which treat just under 7 600 megalitres of waste water every day.
The report puts a capital replacement value of the country’s waste water treatment systems at R23bn – the amount Sonjica says she needs to deal with “hot spots”.
Her department’s acting chief director for water services and regulation, Leonardo Manus, said R12.6bn was needed for infrastructure, R1.4bn for operational expenditure – including hiring technicians, scientists and engineers – while R9.2bn was required for pump station networks and water reticulation infrastructure. Sonjica said the R23bn was an estimate of the cost of dealing with problems only at the 50 percent of municipal treatment works assessed.
by Xolani Mbanjwa
