The Japanese government has handed over a multimillion-rand training yard to South Africa's Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).
The Japanese government, through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), funded the construction of the training facility at the DWS's Roodeplaat Training Centre.
The training yard covers the basics of training artisans to deal with water losses in communities. The designs of the training yard were conducted by the DWS engineers with technical support from Jica.
The training of artisans comes against the background of growing concerns about the huge amounts of water losses – estimated at R9-billion a year – in South Africa.
Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu says water is under threat from a growing population, increasing demands of agriculture and industry and the worsening impacts of climate change.
“The department and the South African Local Government Association (Salga) are faced with a similar challenge regarding the state of nonrevenue water in South Africa. The municipalities do not have the capacity and opportunity to train their officials on nonrevenue water and the country does not have a specific functional facility available to offer training.
"It is clear that the Japanese model of nonrevenue water management is the easiest in that it focusses mainly on the practical side of dealing with nonrevenue water than theory. We’ll continue to work with Salga, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, sector education and training authorities and the metros in ensuring that this project delivers on its intended objectives,” she adds.