City of uMhlathuze

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City of uMhlathuze
PRESENTATION ON WATER POLLUTION AND WATER
CHALLENGES PUBLIC HEARINGS
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City of uMhlathuze
1. Overview of Water Services Management
1.1 Structure
Roads and Building
Support Services
Water and Sanitation New capital projects MIG
funding Internal funding
Management Operation Maintenance Consumer
affairs Bulk Water Sewage treatment outsourced
Regulatory Framework Social Responsibility Water
Loss Management WSDP Water Testing Monitoring
Functions
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City of uMhlathuze
1.2 Water Supply System
General Characteristic

• Extensive Bulk Treatment storage infrastructure
• Raw water abstraction on Mhlathuze River, Lake
  Mzingazi, Lake Nsezi and Lake Cubhu
• Treatment Facilities
• Nsezi (110 Ml/d) ( Water Board)
• Mzingazi (66 Ml/d) ( City of uMhlathuze)
• Esikhawini (36 Ml/d) ( City of uMhlathuze)
• Ngwelezane (8 Ml/d) ( City of uMhlathuze)
• Reservoirs
• 260Ml
• Extensive distribution networks
• Good condition and well maintained

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City of uMhlathuze
1.3 Outsourcing

• Following a comprehensive Section 78 assessment
  performed during 2003 , the City of uMhlathuze
  resolved to outsource those water services
  associated with Bulk Water and Sewage treatment,
  and Bulk Distribution systems to reservoirs. The
  management of services associated with
  reticulation was retained by the municipality,
  and includes operations, maintenance, consumer
  affairs and revenue collection.
• The said bulk services referred to above was
  outsourced through a normal public tender
  procurement process. A specialized, ISO
  9001/14000 accredited external service provider
  was appointed. To ensure contractual compliance ,
  the municipality also appointed an ISO 9001/14001
  accredited engineering consultant to monitor all
  aspects of the service.The said consultants also
  ensure legal compliance in terms of the Local
  Government Municipal Systems Act, 32 of 2000,
  the Water Services Act, Labour legislation,Safety
  legislation, MFMA AND Treasury regulations.

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City of uMhlathuze
2. Water Quality
2.1 Water Quality Management

• The Municipality adopted a comprehensive Water
  Quality Plan, which aligns with said legislation
  and regulations, and is incorporated in the WSP
  contract
• Strictly in accordance with SANS241, government
  notices and the Water Services Act
• Total of 50 parameters are monitored
• Frequency varies from 2-hourly, to daily, weekly,
  fortnightly, monthly, quarterly and annually
• Samples / tests associated with treatment of
  potable water - 13 100/month
• Samples / tests associated with bacteriological
  quality at the treatment plant and at consumer
  points - 1 340/month
• Also includes urban and rural samples at 46
  locations in the municipal area
• Most analyses and tests are performed by external
  accredited laboratories to ensure legitimacy of
  results
• In total 17 parameters associated with effluent
  treatment are monitored on a monthly basis.

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City of uMhlathuze
2. Water Quality
2.2 Management Challenges

• Sampling is done in an area of 800 square
  kilometers
• Number of samples are almost 3 times more than
  the minimum guidelines
• Sampling procedures include sterilizing of
  tap,bottles,hands, etc. transporting samples in
  a cooler box
• Sensitivity of samples probability of
  contamination during sampling process
• Sampling errors mostly contribute to failures
• The WQMS system does not facilitate reporting on
  the findings of re-testing in the case of
  bacteriological failures.
• The City of uMhlathuze performs re-testing as a
  matter of course in all cases where samples fail.
• A fully fledged testing laboratory was
  established for WSA in Richards Bay.
• It is currently awaiting accreditation and
  staffing.

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City of uMhlathuze
3. Role-players
3.1 Relationships
DWAF PROVINCIAL
DWAF NATIONAL
EXTERNAL WATER SERVICE PROVIDER
WATER SERVICE AUTHORITY
INTERNAL WATER SERVICE PROVIDER
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City of uMhlathuze
3. Role-players
3.2 Roles and Assistance Offered

• External WSP Operation of WTW, WWTW and water
  quality reporting
• Internal WSP Maintenance and operational of
  reticulation system and water quality related
  activities
• DWAF National None in terms of water quality
  but it is delegated to Provincial
• DWAF Provincial - Support and regulation on water
  quality by checking compliance.Two monthly
  meetings on Water Quality Task Team (WQMS)

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City of uMhlathuze
4. Water Awareness Programmes

• Water awareness campaigns were held during water
  week to alert communities to the risk of drinking
  contaminated water
• Water Service officials alert communities of the
  risks associated with drinking contaminated water
  during Ward Councilor Meetings
• For the new financial year 2008/2009 various
  water awareness programs have been planned and
  budgeted for.
• All boreholes are logged on GIS and water
  analyzed for potable consumption.
• Boreholes that did not comply were signposted not
  fit for consumption
• All potable water supply within the City is from
  the existing Water Works and reticulated to the
  consumers.
• In areas where reticulation is required or still
  under construction potable water is provided by
  water tankers to Jo Jo tanks.

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City of uMhlathuze
5.Monthly reports to DWAF

• The City of uMhlathuze participates in the eWQMS
  initiative of DWAF.
• In this regard a comprehensive reply was recently
  provided to the office of the Minister of Water
  Affairs and Forestry attached as Annexure A
• Re-sampling of non compliant results attached
  as annexure B.

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City of uMhlathuze
6. Finances for water quality issues
Bulk Water and Sewage treatment and monitoring
Water Services Authority
07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11
R 5,1 m R 8,7 m R 6,8 m R 7,1
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City of uMhlathuze
7.Water quality skills

• The function of bulk water supply and affluent
  treatment is outsourced to an experienced and
  specialized WSP ,who is also ISO 9001/14001
  accredited .The operation is furthermore
  monitored by an external professional service
  provider who is ISO 900114001 accredited to
  ensure compliance.
• The validity of quality tests is ensured by the
  extensive involvement of an external accredited
  laboratory
• There is little doubt that the structures and
  systems being implemented by the City to ensure a
  safe and secure water supply, can serve as a
  benchmark for many municipalities.

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City of uMhlathuze
Thank you
Ngiyabonga
Dankie
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City of uMhlathuze
Annexure A
A.1 Pupose
To comment on the state of water quality within
the City of uMhlathuze for the past 12 months
with reference to the Water Quality Management
System (eWQMS)
A.2 Background
A Water Quality Management System (eWQMS) was
established by a joint venture between Department
of Water Affairs Forestry (DWAF), SALGA and
IMESA to enable municipalities to upload and
analyse drinking water quality data on an
on-going basis. The WQMS is utilised by Water
Sector roleplayers as a tool for tracking,
reviewing and improving of water quality. Water
quality and other water services information is
captured by authorised personnel and stored onto
the central database. The City of uMhlathuze is
participating in the WQMS initiative of DWAF by
submitting water quality information on a monthly
basis. The water quality information associated
with the WQMS system is limited to a few
parameters and the intention is to provide for an
overview. Although the WQMS system focus on 4
water quality parameters, it should be noted that
the City of uMhlathuze is monitoring 50
parameters on a frequency that varies from
2-hourly, to daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly,
quarterly and annually.
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City of uMhlathuze
Annexure A
The quantum of samples / tests performed by the
City of uMhlathuze per month on average is as
follows    Samples / tests associated with
treatment of potable water 13
100/month    Samples / tests associated with
bacteriological quality at the treatment plant
and at consumer points 1 340/month
A.3 Discussion
The drinking water overview contains the water
quality for the City of uMhlathuze for the period
1 May 2007 to 1 May 2008 as reflected on the WQMS
system.   For the purpose of this report,
salient features of the WQMS report are
highlighted for ease of reference.
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A.3.1 Bacteriological Quality Table 1
Drinking Water Quality Summary (WQMS)
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City of uMhlathuze
Key
Noteworthy is the fact that the sample count for
the City of uMhlathuze represents 30 percent of
the total sample count of the province, whereas
the Citys population only represents 3 percent
of the total population of the province as per
the table above. The provincial compliance on
Faecal Coliforms could not be described as
representative. Samples by the City of
uMhlathuze are furthermore almost 3 times more
than the minimum guidelines.
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City of uMhlathuze
Annexure A
The City of uMhlathuze is also compared with the
rest of South Africa. This is not appropriate,
considering that the Mhlathuze samples represent
8 of SA samples whereas it only represent 0,7
of the population. It is suspected that the
provincial and SA figures represent mainly some
treatment works analysis and very little supply
to rural communities and/or distribution
networks. The City of uMhlathuze also received
the Drinking Water Quality Monitoring
Recognition Award for the Most Improved
Municipality on 21 August 2007, from the
Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, in this
regard.   The table above represents the
bacteriological quality of water at 46 sampling
points (for the period May 2007 to May 2008),
throughout the water distribution system (i.e.
including rural areas). These 46 sampling points
are monitored on a fortnightly basis (ie. every
two weeks), which equates to approximately 92
samples per month. An average of 1 (one)
sampling point per month failed to achieve the
required bacteriological standard most of which
relates to the Faecal Coliform level.
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City of uMhlathuze
Annexure A
As a standard practice, a sampling point is
re-tested when failure occurs. The WQMS system
however does not facilitate reporting on the
findings of a re-test. This aspect is rather
important, considering the sensitivity of samples
and probability of contamination during the
sampling process. The sampling procedures
include sterilising the sampling point by heat
treatment of the tap, scouring, sterilising
sampling bottles / hands etc, and keeping samples
in a cooler. The probability of contamination is
therefore significant.  The bacteriological
quality of water in the treatment and
distribution process is predominantly influenced
by the turbidity levels of the treated water and
the levels of residual chlorine being maintained
in the system. Both turbidity and residual
chlorine were maintained within the required
standards for 100 percent of the time. (Also
refer to graphs below).  Sampling errors mostly
contributed to the failures as reflected in the
WQMS report. There are however cases where
bacteriological counts is possible at the
furthest ends of the distribution system due to a
decline in residual chlorine. This is also the
reason why relatively high levels of chlorine
dosages are applied at the treatment works, to
ensure residual chlorine at the furthest consumer
(also refer to residual chlorine graph).
Theoretically the levels of chlorine dosed at the
treatment works is approximately 3 times more
than that required to effectively eliminate all
bacteria.
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City of uMhlathuze
Annexure A
The 12 monthly percentage compliance graph for
bacteriological quality gives an insight of those
months that contributed to the municipality not
achieving its goal of gt99 compliance. The
following graph depicts these results.    
As seen above for the months of December 2007 and
January 2008 the percentage compliance was lt90,
which contributed to the overall percentage for
the 12-month period. One plausible explanation
is a decline in diligence during the sampling
process, for those months traditionally
associated with the holiday season. Methodologies
to improve sampling are receiving continuous
attention. This remains important in order to
obtain representative samples.
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City of uMhlathuze
Annexure A
A.3.2 Disinfections Levels (Residual Chlorine)
The graph below represents residual chlorine
levels for the said period. The levels at some
points are higher due to the fact that chlorine
levels decline over time and along the
distribution system.     The general
guideline is to maintain a minimum of 0,1mg/l
residual chlorine level. Unless circumstances
dictate it is preferable not to exceed 0,5mg/l
(as indicated on the graph above ie. green
line). The extended distribution system to rural
communities requires higher levels at the
treatment works hence the fact that certain
levels are above 0,5mg/l.
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City of uMhlathuze
Annexure A
A.3.3 Turbidity Levels
The graph below reflects the average turbidities
as measured at the treatment works for treated
water. Provision was made under the new WSP
contract to commence on 1 July 2008 for
measurement of turbidity in the reticulation as
is the case for bacteriological parameters.   The
levels being maintained by the City of uMhlathuze
varies between 0,1 and 1,0 NTU, which is
acceptable as per SANS 241 (Class I). A 100
compliance was therefore achieved. Some
improvement at Esikhawini is possible and should
therefore receive attention.
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City of uMhlathuze
Annexure B
Re-sampling of Non-compliances
There generally should be a correlation free
residual chlorine and the number of
non-compliances to determine if the results are
considered being representative of the actual
water quality of the reticulation or a sampling
error.In this case there is no correlation due to
the residual chlorine present which confirms that
it is a sampling error. The following table
lists for the 12-month period all the
non-compliances with free chlorine
concentrations. Of importance to note is that two
sample runs are done per month and not only one
as required. Failures are also re-sampled in the
next sample run.
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City of uMhlathuze
Annexure B
The current contract which expires at the end of
June 2008, utilizes an external accredited
laboratory in Durban. The logistics involved in
this arrangement result in re-testing taking too
long. The new contract which commences 1st July
2008 will make use of an accredited laboratory in
Richards Bay.