In its continuous efforts to enhance the delivery of good quality drinking water, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has reiterated its commitment to enforce compliance and implement legislative measures towards addressing water pollution across the country.

This comes as the Department continues to implement bulk water projects and oversee several infrastructure maintenances aimed at ensuring access to water for all.

The Department has admitted that the main source of pollution comes from wastewater treatment works (WWTWs) due to sewer blockages, poor operations and maintenance as well as pollution from mining operations resulting in problems of acid mine drainage, particularly in mining provinces.

According to Siboniso Mkhaliphi, Acting Chief Director in the Department’s Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement unit, the Department has designated officials known as the Green Scorpions, who are members of the Environmental Management Inspectorate and are working to prevent and curb the extent of water pollution.

“The Green Scorpions have a wide range of powers and functions and are empowered to investigate and effect arrests for water crimes,” said Mkhaliphi. According to Mkhaliphi, since 2014, the Department’s Green Scorpions have investigated a total of 598 cases related to dysfunctional WWTWs which were mainly as a result of complaints received from the public.

He said enforcement actions were taken against municipalities that were found to have violated water legislation in relation to WWTWs.

“Enforcement actions taken include administrative, civil, and criminal actions,” Mkhaliphi said.

He added that the Department embarks on legal processes as a last resort and only takes legal action after numerous attempts to persuade and compel municipalities to rectify their non-compliance. Mkhaliphi added that since 2014 to date the Department has taken enforcement actions against municipalities including opening five criminal cases which are now registered with the South African Police Services (SAPS) and are still under criminal investigation.

A total of 148 notices of intention to issue a directive and 74 directives have been issued, and two court interdicts have been granted in favour of the Department.

“As a sector regulator, we are also monitoring mines as the sector is one of the key perpetrators in terms of water pollution. We have monitored just over 240 of the 561 authorized mines for compliance with their water use entitlements since 2014. Of these, 159 mines recorded a compliance level below 50% in terms of the conditions in their authorizations,” Mkhaliphi said.

Moreover, while dealing with authorized but non-compliant mines, there is a recorded 152 unauthorized mines that the Department is also dealing with.

These mines are mainly in the Northern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga provinces. Furthermore, to address ageing municipal wastewater infrastructure and poor operation and maintenance, the Department is working with the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency (MISA) to ensure that WWTWs that are dysfunctional or in a state of disrepair are urgently repaired.

“We are also partnering with SAPS, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) as well as the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to ensure that water-related crimes receive necessary attention in terms of urgency and penalties. A training programme is also underway to capacitate SAPS and NPA on the National Water Act,” Mkhaliphi said.

Some of the measures include a training programme for Environmental Management Inspectors (the Green Scorpions) to build internal capacity and a joint operating committee with Eskom to ensure that coal is sourced from compliant mines.

The Department has further maintained that the reinstatement of the Blue and Green Drop Certification Programmes – which call for excellent drinking water and wastewater quality management, respectively – will help improve the quality of water supplied to residents and ensure that the state of wastewater treatment and water infrastructure at the municipal level are up to standard.