By Nangamso Mabindla
14 June 2007

SAVING water and improving sanitation were just some of the issues discussed at a two-day Water Institute of South Africa Waste Management Conference in East London

The conference, which started on Tuesday, 12 June, aimed to improve the quality of water management in South Africa. It was an initiative of the water institute, or Wisa, working in conjunction with the Water Research Council of South Africa and Amatola Water. Other partners included the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry.

Speaking at the conference, Amathole District Municipality Executive Mayor Sakhumzi Somyo said that resolutions reached during the event would be crucial for the government to reach its millennium goals.

"We need to work to meet the government's target of supplying people with clean water by 2008. The government also wants to eradicate the bucket system by [the end of] 2007 and provide proper sanitation by 2011."

He said managing wastewater was important for maintaining people's health, and an improved infrastructure would go a long way towards ensuring that the government achieved its goals.

"We need to upgrade our sewer pores. As demand increases, these pores need to keep up. We do not need to spill sewage on our beaches; we need to make radical improvements to our wastewater management at a local level," Somyo added.

He urged delegates to come up with innovative ideas that would ensure that wastewater management was improved.

Talking about water management, the director-general in the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, Jabu Sindane, said that since South Africa was one of the 30 driest countries in the world, the management of water was important.

"Water management should be key to our daily life; we really need to manage it better. We are also mindful of the challenge to provide basic water and sanitation for the people, but we must use our water effectively."

He said there were many challenges in the field of water preservation and wastewater management, and urged municipalities to work with his department in dealing with these challenges.

They included the poor performance of wastewater treatment plants. "We need to have our plants performing better and to ensure that we are in line with the minister's objectives. Wastewater management is one of her flagship projects."

The minister of water affairs and forestry is Lindiwe Hendricks.

Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela urged conference delegates to come up with ways to address some of the water challenges facing the country.

"Some of our people don't have basic clean water - and because of that many of them die as a result of waterborne diseases. In the Eastern Cape we are looking to change that and provide clean water for the people."

She said the province was fortunate to have an abundance of water, mainly thanks to the Umzimvubu River. "However, millions of these litres flow into the ocean. We want to change that and harness the river so that it supplies water to our people."

For water to be conserved, however, people needed to be educated. "Our people need to be educated about the importance of water. They need to know that water is essential to life and is also a vehicle that can bring communities together."