Macassar - The national government is working with municipalities to ensure that the quality of water in the country remains acceptable. To kick off World Water Week, celebrated in Cape Town for the first time, the government has revealed the challenges of managing waste water.
"We are working with municipalities in trying to eradicate water-borne disease and we have introduced the green drop certificate to hold municipalities to particular standards," water affairs minister Edna Molewa told News24 at the Macassar waste water treatment plant outside Cape Town. The management of waste water is particularly challenging because there is a chronic shortage of qualified staff. "Those specific skills are highly mobile and there are some challenges in the department. We have also embarked on training to produce those skills within the department," Molewa said.
Ageing infrastructure
According to the City of Cape Town, the staff shortages are compounded by ageing infrastructure in the water network. "We have huge backlogs in terms of upgrading our capacity and the quality of output," said Philemon Mashoko, water and sanitation manger for the City of Cape Town. He added that there was a waste water plan which is estimated to cost R1.5bn over ten years and would include the replacement of the sewer network.
"It's very difficult to fill positions and I can't give you an exact figure of the staff we need, but we are trying to create our own expertise," said Mashoko. Molewa said that some municipalities needed to up their game in terms of how they dealt with water management, but that the department would "hold their hand" to ensure that water standards were kept.
"We are tightening legislation to get our municipalities to get to or even surpass world standards and we have seen enormous improvements, but some municipalities remain behind. They have not quite adhered to our standards." She said that a detailed report of which municipalities were following the department guidelines was available from the website in a full report due out in June 2011.
Molewa also said that her department was working with industry in the area of re-using water, but this programme was still in its early stages. "We are working with industry in using grey water in mining and agriculture and we would like to see clean water being used only for consumption." News24 - click here original source
From the desk of Chris Le Mesurier - Sep 2010
When I googled “carbon imprint bottled water” I met TreeHugger and was transported into an horrific scenario. Try it! I then teamed up on a promotion with FLOW (www.flow.co.za) during the Encounters Film Festival’s showing of Tapped and again took a “double-take” (www.tappedthemovie.com )
I am passionately convinced that our H2O Franchise in Cape Town, sole suppliers to CT Service, has a legitimate mission to “help people drink more healthy water” but STOP the little bottles!
“BUY THE SYSTEM – NOT THE BOTTLE” is our fervent message for those who prefer to remove the preservative chemicals in our tap water. And its cheap! As an example, an entry-level H2O water purifier costs R1 350: and if you want to combine it with a FLOW s/steel water bottle for all day use add an additional R144 i.e. TOTAL = R1 494.
The water purifier processes up to 11 000 ltr and removes chemicals and heavy metals from tap water, but leaves any minerals behind.
The s/steel Flow re-fillable bottle is long lasting (years) and high quality s/steel and R10 on every sale goes to the Flow (for the love of water) public benefit campaign, a non-profit, awareness and inspirational initiative. By implementing this system, just one, it potentially takes out 22 000 little 500 ml plastic bottles from the environment! Yet it gives the user "bottle-quality" water for drinking, cooking etc, on tap.
From this "entry-level" system , unit cost 14c per ltr, we can become more sophisticated and costs diminish dramatically, down to as little as 3c per ltr. A 500 ml plastic bottle costs around R6, so our 7c per 500ml system makes total economical sense as well as a huge positive environmental impact.
Most important is after-sales service and pro-active maintenance which is why CT Services is the appointed Service Provider to all customers of the Chris Le Mesurier H2O International Franchise. Click here for more info
The World Cup in our Country - July 2010
Between all the festivities, cheering and tears we still managed to get get to all our clients on time. We are very proud of what our country achieved, from the Tshabala goal, to the infrustracture, the transport and the way all South Africans stood together in unity. Well done South Africa and well done Bafana Bafana. Now that South Africa is returning from the parties and starting to get back into routine again, remember to book your cooler service and drop us a call if you want to see a demo of our new Mobotix range. Click here to view the Mobotix range.
The Water Test Scam - July 2010
Sales people from various water purifier companies of late are making use of a so called “Precipitator” or Jam Jar Purity Test to supposedly prove that all water except for the water produced via their purification equipment, is impure and subsequently unsafe for human consumption.
This is a scam conjured up by water companies to sell their water as the only pure water available
Dead babies in the Eastern Cape. Dead crocodiles in the Oliphants River. Dead fish in the Vaal. 7 000 Cholera cases, crumbling infrastructure and large scale sewage spills. Last year South Africans, shell-shocked by the electricity crisis, wondered what would be next.
Bongani Bingwa (Carte Blanche presenter): "The lights had barely been switched back on when a Sunday newspaper said the next crisis would be with water. The minister said that a water crisis was looming, but others weren't so sure. And as the year drew to a close it led to the firing of a CSIR political scientist who said he'd simply been telling it like it was."
Dr Anthony Turton went from hero to zero. Putting his professional reputation on the line, his presentation - which he never got to deliver - raises uncomfortable questions about water supply and the effects of acid mine drainage on human health.
Special Assignment investigates the Vaal River as a public health hazard - March 2010
On 23 February 2010 on SABC3, Special Assignment investigated The Vaal River as a vein of life for the entire Gauteng. The Vaal River catchment area contributes hugely to South Africa's economy. However, due to over development and the breakdown of water treatment systems, the river is turning into a cesspool.
The warnings by experts of a looming Water Crisis are now evident in most parts of South Africa. Our water supplies have deteriorated further than other services, such as safety and security, hospitals, schools, electricity and roads because it is not as evident to the general public. When there is no water everybody knows about it, but when raw sewerage flows into our rivers and storage dams, nobody takes any notice because their lives are not immediately affected.
Fortunately, you have taken action to protect your family by installing a quality water purifier. I want to assure you that your system is effectively removing the heavy metal, agricultural and industrial chemicals and pharmaceuticals found in water with high levels of untreated effluent. If you would like information about pharmaceuticals in water, send me us email and I'll gladly send you copies of the documents we have.
To maintain the high quality water your system is designed to provide, it is essential to maintain it correctly. If your purifier has not been serviced in the past 12 months and you are concerned about the quality of your drinking water, contact us to schedule a service.
With another year drawing to a close, we are extremely excited to have reached our goal of launching our website. This website is aimed at making it easy for you to browse our products and services and to provide you with some useful information about the quality of the water you are drinking.
Please feel free to send us your feedback and if you have any questions regarding your drinking water or our products/services, let us know as we'd love to keep our website up-to-date and relevant to our loyal customers
