The recent drought – the worst in 23 years – not only revealed that South Africa did not have a national water plan but also sparked a review of various policies and infrastructure projects, Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister Pamela Tshwete said at the opening of the Water Institute of Southern Africa’s (Wisa’s) biennial conference in Durban.

In addition to urging industry to “absorb” the 15 000 young people that would be trained by government to participate in the water sector in accordance with President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation address, she highlighted the fact that there was a critical shortage of engineers within municipalities.

It was at municipal level that the most water was lost. Currently, R7-billion was being lost through water leaks each year, she noted.

Tshwete said collaboration between professionals within the industry, researchers and other stakeholders was critical and government “couldn’t do it alone”.

She told a press conference that progress had been made on the development of a National Water Plan. Some municipalities had submitted their water plans but the

Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) was still waiting for provincial plans that would act as a guide to the final national master plan, which would address all aspects of the entire water value chain.

In a separate statement, she confirmed that government was in the process of finalising the National Water and Sanitation Bill, which had been approved for consultation with internal stakeholders.

After stakeholder and public consultation, the Bill would be submitted to Cabinet during the second quarter of 2016/17 and passed during the 2017/18 financial year.

Tshwete said the DWS was rationalising water-sector institutions in line with the recommendations of the Presidential Review Committee on State Entities.

This would lead to improved efficiencies in the delivery of ser- vices, promote sustainable management of water at local level, improve cross subsidisa- tion among various users and increase economies of scale in building and managing infrastructure, thereby reducing costs.

She said progress on the establishment of a National Water and Sanitation Infrastructure Agency was also at an advanced level.

“Water boards are being realigned to take on their new functions and to move towards wall-to-wall coverage in the country. A single water board for KwaZulu-Natal has been mooted and it will align Umgeni and Mhlathuze Water into one wall-to-wall water board covering the entire province.”

She added that additional catchment management agencies had been gazetted for establishment. “We now have two operational catchment management agencies, five gazetted for establishment and two that are gazetted for public consultation.”

The reforms for irrigation boards and water user associations were also at an advanced stage, according to Tshwete. This project started with realigning the Lebalelo Water User Association with the Lepelle Water Board in the Olifants Water Management Area, allowing the Olifants River Water Resource Development Project to be implemented as an integrated system.