Knysna-Plett Herald | Drinking water management commended

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Drinking water management commended
02:00 (GMT+2), Thu, 24 May 2012

KNYSNA NEWS - Knysna Municipality again performed excellently in its drinking water quality management, according to the 2012 Blue Drop report.

Knysna received an overall performance indicator score of 92% (improving on 2011's score of 89%), placing the local municipality in the 13th position in the Western Cape and 37th in the country. With a performance indicator of 97.95%, Karatara received Blue Drop certification.

According to the report: "The certification status regained [previously achieved in 2010] for Karatara is well deserved even though the water supply system of Knysna came very close as well [94.57%]." The report indicates that "seven out of 19 Aluminium failures recorded over the the audit period" hampered Blue Drop certification (for which a target performance of 95% must be obtained).

The Blue Drop score for Sedgefield is 77%, compared to last year's 89.87%. The report indicates that there is room for improvement in the "rather conservative chemical monitoring programme implemented" in this system.
Buffel's Bay scored 85.93% (2011 - 84%) and Rheenendal scored 82.88% (2011 - 84.67%).

The Blue Drop report calls the Knysna Municipality's performance "very encouraging". According to this report: "The Knysna Local Municipality did extremely well in the face of various challenges, particularly in terms of water shortages."

The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) calls upon the municipality to "prioritise process optimisation in light of the varying raw water quality to minimise the likelihood of chemical quality failure". It is further indicated that a need exists for process audits to ensure that treatment facilities operate as effectively as possible. "The need for process audits is even higher when considering the advanced technology (such as the desalination processes) employed in Knysna and Sedgefield."

It is important to note that the Blue Drop programme does not only assess drinking water quality (DWQ), but rather tests the entire drinking water management system. It would therefore be incorrect to assume that drinking water is unsafe in places where Blue Drop certification has not been achieved, when in fact certification acknowledges that the national norms and standards have been surpassed by some reasonable margin. "There are therefore many towns/systems where the water complies very well with expected standards, but there might be some shortcomings identified with the overall risk management."

Several factors are considered to determine a system's performance with regard to water safety planning (35% of final score), DWQ process management and control (10%), DWQ compliance (30%), management, accountability and local regulation (10%), and asset management (15%).

Knysna's performance in the Green Drop index is less shining. The Green Drop programme assesses the health of wastewater treatment systems and risk management. In this regard Knysna is regarded as a "lower performer".
On the Western Cape performance log Knysna takes the 14th position (last year it was in the sixth position). Specific concern is focused on the Knysna2 Wastewater Treatment Works, which "does not comply with any of the required standards".

However, the department's report is optimistic about the municipality's plans to upgrade the works in the coming financial year.