Bill will see councils ‘forced’ to provide clean drinking water
The department of water & sanitation cannot directly intervene when municipalities fail to deliver the service
Almost two-thirds of water-supplying municipalities (94 of 144) were failing to provide clean drinking water (https://groundup.org.za/article/water-in-two-thirds-municipalities-does-not-meet-minimum-standards/) to residents in 2022. In 61 municipalities water treatment and supply was in “a critical state”, according to the latest Blue Drop Report. Yet the department of water & sanitation cannot intervene directly to address it.
Under current water legislation, the department’s only recourse is for the minister “in consultation with the minister for provincial affairs and constitutional development” to “request the relevant province to intervene in terms of section 139 of the constitution”...
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