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Kicking the bucket (system)

Aug 21, 2024 | Articles Effluent Governance Onsite sanitation Sanitation

The bucket system, a toilet that requires the physical removal of the bucket to clean it, still plagues South Africa. To some, it is a symbol of old apartheid rule, while to others it is a symbol of how far we still have to go. 

by Duncan Nortier

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) says that it will continue its Bucket Eradication Programme projects in the Northern Cape and Free State. 

  • The Free State has 26 completed projects out of 33, which means that 32000 buckets have been eliminated, and 10000 remain. 
  • The Northern Cape has 29 completed projects out of 30, eliminating 12000 buckets with 596 buckets remaining.  

The bucket system (image courtesy of Ground Up)

Minister of Water and Sanitation Pemmy Majodina notes that, “The complete eradication of the bucket system is, however, a moving target.” The current program focuses on buckets identified in 2012 and does not account for the introduction of the bucket system in other locations. To rectify this the department will use the recently approved National Sanitation Framework. This framework will provide a new set of national norms and standards for sanitation which prohibit the use of the bucket system. Pemmy adds that, “Working together with the Water Research Commission, the Department is developing new safe, dignified, on-site and non-sewered sanitation systems. These solutions will use much less water than water-borne sewered sanitation systems.” 

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