Latest / Drive with John Perlman / Bronkhorstspruit water crisis

Transcript

Bronkhorstspruit water crisis · Drive with John Perlman

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You're with John Perlman on 702. Right, let's focus our
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: attention on what's happening out in Tswane with the water
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: specifically in the area of Bronco Spray. Joining us to
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: look at this is Professor Anya Duplessis. She is a
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: water management expert and associate professor at UNISA. Prof, welcome
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: and thanks very much for your time. Ensuring that water
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: is chlorinated and that there is insufficient chlorine available to
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: fulfill this function. I would have thought this is basic
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: water system management.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Is it? Well, it should be. And unfortunately, what has
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: led from the noncompliance is that we have a very
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: serious situation. The reason why we're saying this is that
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: chlorine is the last barrier between a polluted river and
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: a glass of water. And you obviously have the various processes,
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: but your chlorine is necessary to kill bacteria like E.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: coli and coliforms before it passes to our taps.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: There's been some conversation about the price of the product,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: and I've heard, and you can confirm whether this is
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: indeed the case, there is only one main supplier of
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: this kind of chlorine for the entire country. First of all,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: is that correct? And secondly, if it is, is that
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: not a position of extreme vulnerability for a country? I mean,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: it's not a particularly rare substance, is it?
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Look, John, unfortunately, I don't know about the stockists and
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: the suppliers, etc. But what I do know is that
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: chlorine is not optional. If you're running out of it,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: it should be treated as an emergency. Good practice is
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: usually that you need to have backup stock and you
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: need to plan the triggers well before the shelves are empty.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: And it doesn't seem like that has been happening. It's either,
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: as you say, a chlorine problem or... Either the monitoring
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: wasn't done of the water quality or the warnings weren't
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: acted upon.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Invariably, when we have a failure of this kind, Prof,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: it points to systemic issues. They may be technical. They
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: may be related to administration or lack of. What should
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: we learn from this? Because one would assume it could
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: happen again.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Well, I think, John, we need to make peace with
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: it that compliance isn't a guideline. We need to comply.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: There are rules and regulations there for a reason. And
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: as you say, it is a multitude of issues and
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: problems culminating into this. But we also need to look
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: at the cause of the problem. Additionally, it's our dysfunctional
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: wastewater treatment works. There is a lack of skilled and
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: experienced staff in some of these water treatment plants that
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: needs to be addressed. And the hardwired safeguards, including measures
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: like backup chlorine, like I said, automatic alarms when chlorine drops, etc.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: That type of things need to be basics and our
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: basics need to be in place for us to be
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: able to even try and manage.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: All over the country, you get a sense and obviously
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: some areas are better run Thank you very much. our
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: wastewater treatment plants are not fit for purpose for the
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: volume of material they have to deal with. I may
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: have misunderstood it, but please clarify.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: No, that is true. Obviously, the first point is, yes,
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: our infrastructure is outdated. And over many decades of not
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: doing your standard maintenance work, or even upgrading your facilities,
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: you will be sitting with more of these issues. In
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: terms of the wastewater treatment works not being able to
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: absorb it, it is usually when your population grows. Your
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: infrastructure also needs to expand to try and accommodate the
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: larger amounts of sewage and wastewater entering the system. And
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: what we have seen over the years is, unfortunately, these
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: treatment plants weren't upgraded or they are currently functioning at overcapacity,
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: meaning that some of the raw sewage is deposited into
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: the river again because they only have such an amount
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: of capacity that they can deal with.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: And I suppose if plants in the same system are
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: breaking down, then these pressures get worse. Prof, just finally,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: the other issue that has come up is There was
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: a certain point at which communities should have been alerted.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Is there a legal framework that determines this? And does
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: that go, for example, with the testing regime that should
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: be checking daily, hourly or whatever, the quality of water
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: that's coming out of the system? Where does the failure lie?
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: So failures were all over the show, John, unfortunately. In
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: terms of the municipality failing to warn the public, that
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: should have been done immediately. And if you look at
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: the legislation, the minister also mentioned this last night, 2025
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: compulsory standards for water services. And then in terms of compliance.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: You can look at a green drop report, basically looking
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: at various aspects of what wastewater treatment works need to
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: comply with. We have the National Water Act. We have
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: the National Water Services Act. All of these things do
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: play a role. And if you even want to throw
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: in the Constitution as well. So there are a multitude
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: of things. And I did see during the course of
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: today that a couple of political parties are thinking about
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: issuing criminal charges.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much, Professor Anya Duplessis, joining us from UNISA.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: She's an associate professor at that university and is an
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: expert on water management. 26 minutes past five.