No water crisis in SA: Minister

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http://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/general/0,2172,163764,00.html

February 07, 2008, 08:00

Water Affairs and Forestry Minister Lindiwe Hendricks says South Africa is not facing a water crisis nor is it facing a water contamination crisis.

However Environmental group, Save the Vaal, have sounded alarm bells about what they say is a looming water crisis in the country. The group and some media say the crisis is as bad as the current power outages. This is alleged to be in a report which says that government is no longer able to effectively monitor and manage its vast infrastructure of dams, pipes, pumps and treatment facilities.

The group's Tom du Toit says: "We had an eco disaster in 2006 with the sewage spillage in the Vaal River where thousands of fish died because of a lack of oxygen and the situation is deteriorating by the day."

He says two massive sewer works have led to thousands of litres of untreated sewerage running into the Vaal River. "The first time I noticed I phoned an official from Rand Water who assured me that it was clean and that is the way in which it was supposed to be. I took the matter up with our committee, who suggested I look at Rand Water's website about the various points they test weekly. I then explained to them they cannot go on these points as those are diluted readings. We must go to the source of the pollution and do a reading."

Du Toit says attempts to meet with relevant government officials were fruitless, but they managed to meet with water role players to address the situation. "All we have received thus far are empty promises. The sewer plants close to the Vaal River need to be fixed soon or we will face severe repercussions."

Hendricks said: "We have noted reports that paint a gloomy picture about our water quality, but with regards to the dams that were mentioned in the report, we on our own conducted an investigation on the status of all our dams and we identified that 160 of them are not up to current safety levels."

Hendricks says this does not mean to say that it is unsafe for people or property. "R1.5 billion has been allocated for these dams' safety rehabilitation programmes. Currently 43 projects are underway either at the planning or construction stage," assured the minister.
- Edited by Melissa Naicker
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No water crisis, just like there's no energy crisis and were not exporting electricity to neighboring countires :rolleyes:
 
BWAHAHAHAHAAHA

Now you KNOW we are in the Pooh bear.

When they manage to wake up long enough to deny something, you know it is real.
 
alanf85 said:
Eish........

Soon we won't need electricity because our water and food will glow in the dark :D
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Bwhahaha, very sharp!! They will lose their jobs if they agree to this, then they cant sleep on the job no more and wont get paid for doing so.

WAKE UP PEOPLE, YOU ARE F***ING UP OUR COUNTRY!!!
 
Do all the tests in the world, if there is something brown and smelly floating in the rivers, there is a problem.
 
What got me (unless Safm got its facts completely wrong this morning), was that the warning that contamination levels in rivers in dams were "fast approaching crisis point" was issued by the Nuclear Watchdog Comitttee.

The minister completley ignored this angle and said, yes, money was being spent to fix up dam infrastructure. Helloooooooooo.. Are we all about to be fried, or what?
 
Well if a government minister said it it must be true.
 
No crisis.

But coming soon - all households will have to have water purifiers and all households within 50km of the coast will have to have desalinators by 2010. The DWAF will provide a subsidy of R25.

Citizens are urged to cut water consumption and drink only every other day.

To quote the minister : "Don't bathe, don't bathe. If you don't bathe you'll smell like me"
 
Albereth said:
No crisis.

But coming soon - all households will have to have water purifiers and all households within 50km of the coast will have to have desalinators by 2010. The DWAF will provide a subsidy of R25.

Citizens are urged to cut water consumption and drink only every other day.

To quote the minister : "Don't bathe, don't bathe. If you don't bathe you'll smell like me"
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Shouldn't that read "you'll be smellerer like me."?
 
We must have become a victim of our own success again - thanks Alec. All this damn demand for basic deliverables is just ridiculous - I mean, where are they supposed to get their kickbacks from if we expect them to invest back into the infrastructure? Stupid South Africans - just use less electricity and water man - and sleep more for clevererness.

Thank god the state didnt introduce a new company called Airkom, or we would all be screwed.
 
R1.5 billion has been allocated to dam safety and rehabilitation programmes, says the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry.

This announcement was made by department minister Lindiwe Hendricks, following recent media reports which suggested serious problems with the country's water supply, including radioactive contamination, unsafe dams and waste spills.

"The Sunday Times on 3 February 2008 presents a gloomy picture of the state of water in South Africa and says that we are facing a water crisis similar to that of electricity. Fortunately we are not," said Hendricks.

Hendricks acknowledged that the article raised some important concerns but said that it did not outline all the measures and responses being taken by her department to address these issues.

Speaking to SABC News, Hendricks said department officials have conducted an investigation on the status of all the country’s dams and have identified 160 that currently do not meet safety standards.

The department is implementing appropriate clean-up programmes and local authorities have been instructed to provide communities affected by contaminated water, with safe drinking water.

Currently 43 dam safety and rehabilitation projects are underway.
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Easy to choose not to see what is being done
 
Deny deny deny until it falls apart. Then say it was an oversight of the government and we will not fire anyone because what is done is done. Give bonuses for attempting to fix the situation and leave everyone feeling like the government has actually done something.

I heard 70% of Dusi participants go ill due to the filty water :eek:
 
There is a link between the two articles quoted - that of 43 projects underway. One calls them dam safety and rehabilitation projects and the other says they are in the planning or construction phase. Cool. Something is happening.

But it sounds like someone has found a crack in the wall of the dam and that is what is being fixed.

See - planning sounds like nothing is really going on other than pieces of paper being shuffled around. Yes, all very necessary but quite at the point where it makes the tangible difference. And construction sounds like civil engineering - so someone is driving a big bulldozer or pouring concrete.

The crisis, as I understand it, has more to do with the quality and quantity of fresh water. So I would like to know that the projects are for desilting dams, building new ones (okay maybe that is happening but it wouldn't be a safety concern now would it?) and for getting rid of all causes of life impacting pollution. You want to make me happy - use Health and not Safety in your descriptions. (Unless I live beneath a dam that has a big crack in it - then I mean safety.

But it isn't enough to think only of water in dams. We have industries that use a lot of water (mining) and every city or dorp processes sewerage and we have aquifers. All the water needs to be managed because it is a system.

And unlike electricity, there aren't any alternatives. You can go without power for days.
 
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