Briefings on attaining Sustainable Development Goal 6 – availability & sustainable management of water & sanitation for all; with Deputy Minister

Video The Portfolio Committee on Water & Sanitation received a briefing from the Department of Water & Sanitation and Statistics South Africa on the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 – Ensure availability and sustainable management of water & sanitation for all and its implications on other SDGs. The Deputy Minister emphasised that the keyword today was attainment and attainment is defined as the action or fact of achieving a goal. For the Department to give the foundation to that action, they must first find the target gaps, which is something they have already done for each target and that will be presented today. The main focus of their presentation was on the actions taken so far to address SDG6 as well as the planned actions going forward towards achieving the 2030 goals. Key issues raised by Committee members: - Reprioritisation - The Department needs R131 billion annually in order to meet SDG goals but it is currently getting R12.5 billion, how will the shortfall be addressed. - The collapse of wastewater treatment plants - the current state of our wastewater treatment plants is not good because wastewater discharge has gone down and this means that waste is going directly into our groundwater, rivers and the sea. - Poor performing Water Services Authorities - emphasis should be placed on the widespread under-performance of the Water Services Authorities and for WSAs to minimise non-revenue water and fix the leaks.