The opinions and statements shared by thought leaders in the water industry to Water&Sanitation Africa.

“We must develop our leaders. No one can state that they do not need development. Leadership development and governance training should be on the agenda of every board or accounting authority in our sector. If not, a vital opportunity is missed.” Dr

Lester Goldman, CEO, WISA

“If municipalities provided a value statement to citizens with the correct, timely and accurate price as well as a promise on delivering rapid, reliable services, there would be far less non-payment. Municipalities need to build trust with the people they serve, they need to lose any arrogance, bureaucracy and stamp out all fraud and corruption. That is one of the ways to increase payment levels.”

Dan Naidoo, chairman, WISA

“Municipalities across South Africa require more effective ways to manage their infrastructure, maintenance, compliance and billing. Previously, this would have been a big ask. But modern data systems offer new ways for towns and cities to do more with less, improve service delivery and water security, and improve their revenue.”

Chetan Mistry, strategy and marketing manager, Xylem Africa

“Many water systems in sub-Saharan Africa are not working because there is no funding to operate or maintain them. So, while 93% of people living in the area have access to a mobile phone, 2 300 people die every day from waterborne diseases. A digital solution is therefore needed.” Dr Jo Burgess, head: Trial Reservoir, Isle Utilities

“Data should never die with a paper printed drawing. Often, work is done digitally, and a paper printed drawing is created. Then, later, someone extracts information from the paper print and tries to put the data back to digital format. This is an inefficient, time-consuming process and not conducive to digital project delivery (BIM).” Peter Webb, director, Technocad

“Information on water quality is often out of date by the time it reaches beach users, either because samples are not collected daily or because of the time it takes (minimum of 24 to 48 hours) to culture and count bacteria in a laboratory and then publish the results on beach notice boards or online. Heavy rains and strong winds can also change pollution levels overnight. And sampling is costly.” Dr Justin Pringle, senior lecturer, University of KwaZulu-Natal

“The colorimetric method for COD testing is the most popular. Although colorimetry requires a spectrophotometer or photometer, it offers convenience since most manufacturers offer premixed reagents, so it is easy to run samples with the digestion chemicals and have minimal contact. Since all the analyst needs to do is digest the samples and let the instrument do the work, colorimetry is the most common method to measure COD.”

Ralf Christoph, GM, Hanna Instruments South Africa

“When municipality X has been performing poorly for the last 15 years, why is it that we keep blaming only the municipality (council and officials) and not those who are constitutionally charged with supporting and intervening? Surely, they have failed more than the municipality itself?” Lubabalo Luyaba, specialist: Water and Sanitation, SALGA

“Businesses, urban and rural areas all require water storage solutions that are versatile, technologically advanced and deliver water fast. Professionals in the water space need to look for quicker and more costeffective alternatives to concrete reservoirs for their water storage projects. Modular, bolted-steel-panel water tanks, which can be commissioned immediately and do not need road infrastructure in advance of their installation, are an ideal alternative.”

Chester Foster, business sales director: SBS Tanks

“To make green hydrogen, one needs an electrolyser, renewable energy and water. It takes 9 kg of water to make 1 kg of hydrogen. However, due to contaminants in water, we estimate that between 10 kg and 12 kg of water will be needed for every 1 kg of hydrogen. If solar energy is used, even more water will be needed to clean the photovoltaic panels, so approximately 15 kg of water will be needed for every 1 kg of hydrogen.”

Thomas Roos, senior research engineer, CSIR

“Partnerships with the private sector are of extreme importance to Johannesburg Water. This is because we need further investment into our infrastructure to meet increasing water demand. Our rate of investment into infrastructure is smaller than the rate of deterioration. For example, we would like to replace 925 km of pipes in the next five years (185 km/annum); we can only replace 117 km with our current funding. Water losses have increased from 24% in 2019 to 31% in 2022. The lack of capital investment has continued to have an impact on the infrastructure failure rate. The increase in the infrastructure failure rate has resulted in an increase in physical losses.”

Derrick Kgwale, COO, Johannesburg Water

“Roughly 80% of the destructive river blockage in the KZN April 2022 floods was due to alien invasive plants rather than solid waste or litter. Since these alien invasive plants have shallow root systems (in contrast to the deep-rooted indigenous vegetation), they can be stripped out easily, leaving the soil exposed. During large storm flows, the aliens wash away easily, causing further erosion of larger trees and sandy soils, which blocks culverts further downstream.”

Dr Sean O'Donoghue, senior manager: Climate Change Department, eThekwini Municipality

“There is no doubt that the recent severe flooding has increased the focus on climate change as a matter of urgency. Extreme weather events are likely to become more extreme and common in future. It speaks to the need for resilient infrastructure and risk mitigation, as well as bringing environmentally aware design to bear.”

Dr James Cullis, sustainability expertise leader, Zutari