The Anti-Pollution Task Team: achievements and future plans

WASA talks to Raquel Nosie Mazwi, director: Water Resource Regulation at the Department of Water & Sanitation (DWS), about the Anti-Pollution Task Team (APTT).

When was APTT established, and what is its mandate?

RNM APTT was formally established on 15 November 2019, with the purpose to identify and assess risks that can cause pollution in water resources and find remedies to mitigate pollution impacts in water. Furthermore, APTT must draft and implement anti-pollution management protocols and interface with other institutions (such as law enforcement) to ensure that polluters are brought to book. One of APTT’s key tasks is to monitor and ensure the implementation of the National Water Quality Management (NWQM) Strategy. APTT will also research international trends and new developments in pollution management.

This task team does not replace any of the departmental or regional functions, it is a mechanism to support existing functions in dealing with pollution matters and improving water quality.

How is the APTT structured?

APTT is coordinated by the deputy director general: Regulation, Compliance and Enforcement and is supported by the deputy director general: Water Resource Management.

It comprises 22 DWS members from both the Regulation, Compliance and Enforcement Branch and Water Resource Management Branch, as well as representatives from each regional office and the two established catchment management agencies.

An action plan has been drafted to implement the NWQM Strategy through APTT; can you provide some details?

This action plan comprises eight tasks, and each one has actions that detail what needs to be achieved within a specified time frame. Every task has a team leader that coordinates the actions within that task. The action plan gets monitored on a quarterly basis.

It has been updated to include the Water and Sanitation Summit’s suggested outcomes held in February 2022 and seeks to give effect to the commitment made by the Minister to improve resource water quality by 60% within 36 months.

Most regional offices have a Water Resource Management Forum that has developed their own regional action plan, giving effect to this national action plan. Some of these actions have already been achieved but most (due to their nature) are set over a long time frame.

(See Table 1 from page 24.)

Why are South Africa’s water resources declining in quality?

Old and unmaintained infrastructure is the primary reason. A major issue is wastewater treatment plants discharging non-compliant effluent into the water resources. There is also a lack of integrated planning when it comes to new developments, even though a region’s population is increasing, very little water and wastewater infrastructure is built or upgraded.

There are also a significant number of unlawful discharges and noncompliance with water use authorisations; some water users have no authorisations. Furthermore, when applying for water use authorisations, some users submit untruthful information. Verifying this information is a huge task.

Another challenge is that our officials are often intimidated or are not given access to a site when they conduct investigations, and they sometimes have to rely on the police to escort them to certain premises.

Lack of human capacity in the department is also a challenge; we need more feet on the ground to conduct compliance, monitoring and enforcement – we need to be a lot more visible. Currently, the DWS is undergoing a restructuring process to try to address this need.

South Africa has a wonderful WQM policy and strategy, but it cannot simply live as a mere document. The APTT will assist in its implementation. Legislation, policies and strategies mean very little if they are not implemented.

There are a broad range of achievements, and we are continuously working on the NWQM Strategy Action Plan. Here is a list of some of our progress:

• Classification of water resources has been done for most major rivers in the country and resource quality objectives have been set and will be continuously monitored for compliance.

• WQM monitoring has been reinstated in all the water management areas.

• Classification and mapping of WQ hotspots has been completed in Breede-Gouritz, Mzimvubu-Tsitsikama, Pongola-Mtamvuna, Inkomati, Limpopo and Berg-Olifants.

• Water Quality Planning level assessments are completed for all nine WMAs.

• Regional Water Quality Improvement

Plans have been drafted to improve water quality as committed by the Minister at the Water and Sanitation Summit held in February 2022.

• There has been accelerated processing of water use authorisations.

• The National Water Resources Strategy has been gazetted for comment and is currently busy with stakeholder engagement.

• A pricing strategy has been gazetted for public comment, which is currently busy with stakeholder engagement.

• The Mine Water Policy was approved in May 2022 by cabinet for implementation.

• The Unconventional Gas Regulations were gazetted for public comment in May 2021 and we are currently consolidating the comments into the final draft of the regulations.

• Water Quality Management Policy was presented to cabinet in August 2022 and approved for implementation.

• Compliance monitoring achieved 338 out of the 344 targeted inspections for FY 2021/22.

• Approval of tariffs has been given for the implementation of the waste discharge charge system (water resource management charge) in the Vaal, Olifants and Limpopo Water Management Area in FY 2023/24.

What is done once the DWS comes across a pollution case?

When it comes to enforcement action, three instruments can be used:

1. Administrative action – A person/ company/entity is issued a directive and requested to create a plan to address these transgressions. The DWS then approves and monitors that action plan. In most cases, this is sufficient.

2. Criminal action – This is where a case is brought before the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and prosecution takes place.

3. Court interdict – This means that a person/business/entity must stop operations immediately and pay to rehabilitate the water resource.

The DWS periodically holds a compliance and enforcement blitz that is aimed curbing illegal water use activities. At times, as a last resort, when all other engagement has failed, the DWS will demolish or move the illegal water user’s infrastructure.

During the 2021/22 year, 182 pollution cases were reported. A total of 142 administrative enforcement actions were taken, three criminal cases were opened and referred to the NPA, while 40 cases were closed as they had complied with legislative requirements. There were also two successful prosecutions during 2021/22:

• In the State v Rand West Local Municipality, there was a plea sentencing agreement where the State accepted the guilty plea and the accused was fined R10 million – of which R7 million is suspended for a period of five years.

• In the State v Thaba Chweu Local Municipality, there was a plea sentencing agreement where the accused was fined R10 million, of which half is suspended for a period of five years on conditions. The Accused was sentenced to a fine of R5 million or imprisonment for a period not

A major issue is wastewater treatment plants discharging non-compliant effluent into water resources exceeding five years, wholly suspended for a period of five years.

The DWS must follow strict intergovernmental protocol before even beginning the prosecution of other government entities, so these outcomes were a big victory and proved that it is possible.

What challenges do APTT experience?

As mentioned before, we are under-resourced; we need more feet on the ground and need to adopt new technologies to assist with monitoring, compliance and enforcement.

APTT touches on numerous departmental functions, and it can be difficult to bring everyone under one roof and coordinate everything. Therefore, APTT focuses on reducing any fragmentation and the adoption of a coordinated approach.

What message do you want to give to water services authorities and the private sector?

We say this so often that it is becoming a cliché, but I cannot stress enough that water is a finite resource that must be protected. This is a mammoth task and it cannot be solely left to the DWS. We rely heavily upon water users and other stakeholders, and we need them to assist us by having the correct authorisations and for them to comply with these authorisations. Self-regulation is so important – it will reduce the burden on us.

The DWS does not want to be seen as the department with the big stick; we want to partner with everyone and work together in protecting this precious resource. However, we do have a stick and we will act against noncompliance. We want to work together with the private sector. There are a lot of DWS initiatives that would truly benefit from public-private partnerships.

APTT is working hard towards improving water quality. We are extremely proud of our action plan and are determined to execute it.