“Every South African has a responsibility to make adjustments to their consumption of this very critical and scarce resource,” said Deputy Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Rejoice Mabudafhasi during the handing over of certificates to graduating process controllers at the George Municipality in the Western Cape on 19 March.

The team of men and women recently completed the Water Process Controllers training Programme. “This is a remarkable milestone as the lack of process controllers and shortcomings in terms of formal qualifications has been a big concern for us,” said Mabudafhasi, adding that the Department specifically – and government as a whole – was addressing the shortage of skills in water management at the municipal level.

“However I would like to acknowledge the experience and dedication of those that have been holding the fort doing the job even though they did not have formal qualifications,” said Mabudafhasi.

She added municipalities need to prioritise the formal training of the existing water process controllers and initiate the recruitment of new ones as water treatment works is a around the clock operation which needs fully fledged teams at all times.

The lack of qualified process controllers can directly impact quality and therefore Blue Drop and Green Drop compliance as well. The programme, according to Mabudafhasi, “is designed to move municipalities from poor performance to full compliance.” However, she warns this cannot be achieved without appropriately qualified Water Process Controllers at the municipal level.

“Congratulations to all the graduates. This is a start, not the end – we expect you to register for more courses until you become experts in this field. We expect to see drastic improvements on the management of Water Treatment Works,” concluded Mabudafhasi.