WATER CRISIS CANNOT BE IGNORED

PARTS of the country are facing an unimaginable water crisis, with concerns being raised that in years, if not months, to come this will surpass the electricity crisis that has affected consumers and business.

Years of poor governance, lack of foresight, mismanagement and neglect in maintaining infrastructure has provided the setting for a nightmarish scenario.

Regular media reports on communities that have gone weeks, months and years without access to a stable supply of water must raise multiple red flags.

By many accounts Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu has started to make inroads into the many factors that have contributed to the crisis by planning to overhaul the entire water sector.

Mchunu wants to enforce accountability for non-compliance with standards and to encourage private investment using amendments to the National Water and Water Services Acts that would allow him to intervene in municipalities that are failing to address the decline of water services.

The amendments are currently going through the public consultation process with one of the envisaged changes holding municipal managers or business directors accountable and personally liable for a failure to deliver quality water to residents.

Ignoring recent reports on the state of water quality will also prove disastrous.

Recent Drop reports have revealed that more than 64 municipalities in the country are in a critical state and that the quality of water may be questionable.

Water services in several municipalities are under pressure, leading to national government raising concerns with the quality of drinking water.

In December last year, Mchunu revealed that the Blue and No Drop reports show that there has been a decline in drinking water quality and an increase in non-revenue water since the last reports were issued in 2014.

There has been a lack of political willpower to deal with the corruption, malfeasance, maladministration and inefficiency related to water provision and to hold anyone accountable for these issues.

Only time will tell if indeed those who are responsible are held to account.