tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/vaal-river-58844/articlesVaal River – The Conversation2022-07-24T08:19:15Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1860172022-07-24T08:19:15Z2022-07-24T08:19:15ZFish in a major South African river are full of microplastics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473629/original/file-20220712-31531-zvyojp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People fish in the Vaal River but are not always aware of the risks associated with microplastic pollution.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Grobler du Preez/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We are living in the plastic age. Plastics are literally everywhere: clothes, furniture, computers, phones and more contain plastic materials. It’s no wonder, then, that the <a href="https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/generalissues/Pages/Microplastics-in-food-.aspx">food we eat</a>, the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2468584418300436?casa_token=t79pbqzvpsMAAAAA:MJz2qh2pBfOa_mLtwcTnIlfa5ZFZ-Q7Glx3TP-ks3HGqG7SRwECiGUYTgIu8FW9MAukC0sP0JXr6">water we drink</a> and even <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2468584417300119?casa_token=OF0RW2FYw9MAAAAA:ClMsYZXoKKj4Esj4w_lnc-YTtchIV4Ncsa0Yn4yULYrHTCgrC8ZZyBnMt1TA8fTcbCu5O8LpWUkr">the air we breathe</a> is contaminated with microplastics.</p>
<p>These tiny plastic particles are smaller than 5 mm in diameter. Some, known as secondary microplastics, are formed from the breakdown of larger plastic items. In natural environments like rivers, plastics are exposed to different degradation processes <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b06635">driven by</a> thermal, chemical, microbial and mechanical forces. </p>
<p>Primary microplastics, meanwhile, are manufactured at microscopic size to be used as fibres, films, foams and pellets, among other things. It is estimated that <a href="https://www.firstsentier-mufg-sustainability.com/content/dam/sustainabilityinstitute/assets/research/FSI-and-MUFG-Sustainable-Investment-Institute-microplastic-pollution-report-may-2021.pdf#page=14">between 0.8 and 2.5 million tonnes</a> of microplastics are released into the global marine system per year.</p>
<p>Once they’re in oceans, lakes, rivers and other bodies of water, microplastics absorb toxic elements and organic contaminants. Their small size and large surface area mean that microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi may also attach and colonise on them. This all makes microplastics a cocktail of contaminants.</p>
<p>Globally, microplastics research is still in its infancy as the scale of the problem has only become apparent in recent years. The knowledge gap is especially high <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969720359519">across Africa</a>. That’s worrying: the continent is home to some of the largest and deepest of the world’s lakes and notable rivers, but not much is known about the extent of microplastics in African freshwaters. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/plastic-pollution-in-nigeria-is-poorly-studied-but-enough-is-known-to-urge-action-184591">Plastic pollution in Nigeria is poorly studied but enough is known to urge action</a>
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<p>It is also difficult to assess the environmental and public health risks linked to microplastics. That’s because scientists are still learning about how microplastics move through various pathways and where people are most vulnerable to exposure. </p>
<p>In an attempt to bridge this gap, we <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S004896972202719X#ab0015">recently studied</a> common carp fish collected from South Africa’s Vaal River. It’s a major freshwater body of significant economic value that, the country’s Department of Water and Sanitation <a href="https://www.nbi.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/IVRS_Demand-forecast-and-yield-analyses-2020.pdf#page=3">says</a>, “supports almost 50% of South Africa’s gross domestic product”. The river supplies water for drinking, agriculture and industries and services to <a href="https://www.sahrc.org.za/home/21/files/The%20Vaal%20Inquiry%20Final%20Report_17022021.pdf">around 11 million people</a> in the Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North West and Free State provinces.</p>
<p>Our findings were troubling. We took samples from 26 fishes’ digestive tracts and found a total of 682 particles – ranging from seven to 51 particles per fish. That means the river is considerably polluted with microplastics. This isn’t just potentially bad news for people’s health; it also has huge economic implications because the Vaal and similar water bodies are used for agriculture, breeding livestock and recreation. </p>
<h2>Toxicity and risk</h2>
<p>South Africa has a vibrant plastic manufacturing industry. Recycling, though, is limited. The country is ranked among the top 20 countries with the <a href="https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_plastic_pollution.pdf">highest mass of mismanaged plastic waste</a> – and a notable proportion of that enters the aquatic environment. </p>
<p>Many of the microplastics we recovered from our samples were small, coloured (dyed) and fibrous (the particles have a slender and elongated appearance). Those are worrying characteristics because studies have shown that <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969722008221">several aquatic organisms</a> are drawn to and consume small, coloured and fibrous microplastics, which resemble natural prey. </p>
<p>Their greater surface area means that smaller microplastics absorb more pollutants from the water that their larger counterparts, resulting in additional health risks. Research <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34499472/">has also found</a> that the smaller the microplastics the more likely they are to end up in aquatic organisms’ muscles and livers. That makes them more harmful to the animals. And their fibrous shape means they’re easily embedded in tissue. So they spend longer in an animal’s intestines and become more toxic.</p>
<p>Finally, coloured microplastics are particularly toxic because of the colouring agents used during the plastic manufacturing process.</p>
<h2>Awareness and improved policies</h2>
<p>Many people are simply not aware of what microplastics are, nor how they might cause harm. During sampling, we met some people who were fishing; others were cooking and eating fish along the banks of the Vaal River while they fished. They were interested to know what we were doing and admitted they’d not heard of this issue before. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472184/original/file-20220703-36074-9z1eox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472184/original/file-20220703-36074-9z1eox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472184/original/file-20220703-36074-9z1eox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472184/original/file-20220703-36074-9z1eox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472184/original/file-20220703-36074-9z1eox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472184/original/file-20220703-36074-9z1eox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472184/original/file-20220703-36074-9z1eox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">People cooking freshly-caught fish on the banks of the Vaal River.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dalia Saad</span></span>
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<p>This emphasises the importance of social awareness and public education. Public awareness strategies could include a wide range of activities designed to persuade and educate, perhaps beginning with early grade school curricula. It is important to extend the message beyond reuse and recycling to the responsible use and minimisation of waste. People should also be taught about the risks involved in using plastic for water or food storage.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nigerias-plastic-pollution-is-harming-the-environment-steps-to-combat-it-are-overdue-177839">Nigeria's plastic pollution is harming the environment: steps to combat it are overdue</a>
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<p>Making people aware of these issues is key to creating public pressure to demand effective waste regulations. This is important because the negative effects of microplastic pollution are not limited to the bio-physical elements of the environment – they have implications for social and economic systems.</p>
<p>Rivers and lakes are used for transport, agriculture, breeding livestock and recreation. The productivity, viability, profitability and safety of these sectors are highly vulnerable to plastic pollution. Microplastics pollution is as much a social concern as it is a scientific one. </p>
<p><em>The author would like to acknowledge her students who conducted the study with her: Patricia Chauke, Gibbon Ramaremisa, and Michelle Ndlovu.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186017/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dalia Saad has received funding from the Royal Society, UK, this study is funded by Government’s Grand Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), grant number: FLR\R1\201062.</span></em></p>The Vaal River, which serves more than 11 million people, is considerably polluted with microplastics.Dalia Saad, Researcher, School of Chemistry, University of the Witwatersrand, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1559702021-02-25T14:34:02Z2021-02-25T14:34:02ZLocal government in South Africa is broken: but giving the job to residents carries risks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386139/original/file-20210224-17-yijl1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Failure by local government to provide basic services has led to protests around South Africa. Now, some residents are resorting to self-help. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In December 2020, the High Court in Mahikeng, the capital of South Africa’s North West Province, <a href="http://www.saflii.org.za/za/cases/ZANWHC/2020/95.html">made a controversial order</a> after finding that the <a href="https://www.kgetlengrivier.gov.za/">Kgetlengrivier Local Municipality</a> was in breach of its legal obligations. The municipality had failed to deliver water and sanitation. It had also failed to prevent environmental pollution in the towns of Koster and Swartruggens. </p>
<p>The court issued an interim order that the municipal manager be jailed for 90 days, unless the municipality urgently restored water services and stopped sewage flowing into the local rivers. It also ordered that, unless the municipality acted quickly, a local residents’ association could take control of the water and sewerage systems. The state would then have to pay the residents for doing the municipality’s job.</p>
<p>Shortly afterwards, the residents took over delivery of water and sanitation and managed to <a href="https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/south-africa/north-west-residents-take-matters-into-their-own-hands-and-get-courts-blessing/">restore both systems to working order</a>. The municipality <a href="http://www.kgetlengrivier.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ILLEGAL-TAKING-OVER-OF-STATE-PROPERTY-IN-KGETLENGRIVIER-LOCAL-MUNICIPALITY.pdf">strongly objected to the take-over</a>. But, in January, the court sided with the residents and <a href="http://www.saflii.org.za/za/cases/ZANWHC/2020/95.html">endorsed their control of the services</a>.</p>
<p>The remedies in the judgment were radical and unusual, but received <a href="https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/south-africa/north-west-residents-take-matters-into-their-own-hands-and-get-courts-blessing/">positive press</a>. Even the national government departments cited in the case seemed to agree that drastic action was necessary. They indicated that they would <a href="https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/south-africa/north-west-residents-take-matters-into-their-own-hands-and-get-courts-blessing/">abide by the court’s decision</a>.</p>
<p>As with organised community efforts to assist with services in other small towns – examples include <a href="https://www.sapeople.com/2021/02/15/delmas-residents-are-reviving-their-dorp/">Delmas</a> and <a href="https://www.sapeople.com/2021/02/05/senekal-community-is-healing-rifts-by-fixing-their-town-together/">Senekal</a>, Kgetlengrvier’s residents have shown the power of a committed citizenry, in channelling their rejection of government into action that benefits the broader community. Their conduct has been likened to a <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africans-are-revolting-against-inept-local-government-why-it-matters-155483">constructive kind of anarchy</a>. </p>
<p>But, by endorsing their actions, the court essentially ordered the outsourcing of municipal service delivery to an un-elected group of residents. </p>
<p>Moreover, it did so in a way that bypassed the usual legal processes. For instance, the court made no reference to the legal requirements for outsourcing municipal functions in the <a href="https://www.gov.za/documents/local-government-municipal-systems-act">Municipal Systems Act</a>. The same Act prescribes structures through which residents can participate in local government affairs, which were also ignored.</p>
<p>What does this say about the state of the country’s constitutional democracy?</p>
<h2>When municipalities fail</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/images/a108-96.pdf">1996 Constitution</a> awards municipalities authority and responsibility to run the local affairs of their communities. It further requires provincial and national governments to monitor and support municipalities. </p>
<p>When a municipality is unable to manage its own affairs or to meet its financial obligations, the constitution requires that the provincial government intervenes. This usually involves <a href="https://www.parliament.gov.za/news/salga-concerned-about-high-number-section-139-interventions-municipalities">placing the municipality under administration</a> and assisting it to implement a recovery plan. In serious cases, the constitution allows the province to take over service delivery in the municipality, or even to disband the municipal council.</p>
<p>Kgetlengrivier is not the only municipality that has recently been hauled before court because of failure to comply with its constitutional obligations. In several similar cases, courts also had to deal with the ineffectiveness of provincial oversight and support.</p>
<p>In 2020, the Makhanda High Court ordered that the council of <a href="http://www.makana.gov.za/">Makana Local Municipality</a> in the Eastern Cape Province, be <a href="http://www.saflii.org/cgi-bin/disp.pl?file=za/cases/ZAECGHC/2020/1.html&query=Unemployed%20Peoples%20Movement">dissolved</a>. This was after a provincial intervention was unable to stop the collapse of service delivery in the town.</p>
<p>In another case, when <a href="https://www.emalahleni.gov.za/v2/">Emalahleni</a> and <a href="http://tclm.gov.za/tclm/">Thaba Chweu</a> municipalities in Mpumalanga Province failed to pay their electricity bills due to financial mismanagement, local businesses obtained an <a href="http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZASCA/2020/185.html">interdict</a> to stop Eskom, the power utility, from cutting off the electricity. The court criticised the national and provincial governments for not ensuring that the municipalities could meet their financial obligations.</p>
<p>Moreover, the Human Rights Commission, a <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/SAConstitution-web-eng-09.pdf">state institution</a> that supports constitutional democracy, recently <a href="https://www.sahrc.org.za/home/21/files/The%20Vaal%20Inquiry%20Final%20Report_17022021.pdf">released a report</a> on the pollution of the Vaal River by sewage spills from <a href="https://www.emfuleni.gov.za/">Emfuleni Local Municipality</a> south of Johannesburg. The council has been under the administration of the provincial government <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/SouthAfrica/News/makhura-confirms-cash-strapped-emfuleni-municipality-placed-under-administration-20180611">since June 2018</a>. Since this was clearly ineffective, the commission suggested that national government should step in.</p>
<h2>Jettisoning constitutional structures</h2>
<p>These cases reveal worrying and widespread governance failure at different levels. But the decisions and recommendations in these cases all insist that broken municipalities be fixed from <em>within</em> the constitutional framework of cooperative governance.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.saflii.org.za/za/cases/ZANWHC/2020/95.html">Kgetlengrivier judgment</a> is different. The High Court seems not only to have given up on the municipality, but also on the ability of North West Province to provide support or oversight. </p>
<p>Perhaps the court is justified, since the provincial government is itself <a href="https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2021-02-15-government-extends-its-north-west-intervention-by-another-three-months2/">under national administration</a>. But is this enough reason to cast aside the constitutional mechanism for dealing with malfunctioning municipalities?</p>
<p>The judgment begs several questions. How sustainable is service delivery by residents? What happens to the structures that have been bypassed? Who takes decisions on how services are delivered? How accountable are these decision makers? What say do other residents have? What is the role of the elected municipal council? What will residents be voting for in the upcoming local government elections?</p>
<h2>Repairing the system</h2>
<p>The residents of Koster and Swartruggens should be applauded for their civic virtue, goodwill, dedication and skill. The country’s <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2018-10-26-00-fraud-poor-governance-cause-municipal-crisis/">system of local governance is clearly broken</a>. Active community participation will be essential to fix it. </p>
<p>But one doesn’t repair a system by casting it aside. South Africa needs a way to incorporate active citizens <em>within</em> the prevailing constitutional and legal structures. This would strengthen all levels of government.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155970/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marius Pieterse does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>South Africa needs a way to incorporate active citizens within the prevailing constitutional and legal structures, so as to strengthen all levels of government.Marius Pieterse, Professor of Law, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1257422019-10-27T07:57:48Z2019-10-27T07:57:48ZPanic over water in South Africa’s economic hub is misplaced<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298509/original/file-20191024-170458-obx399.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It has been a hot, dry October in much of the interior of South Africa. And the rains have started later than usual. So it was not surprising that alarm bells went off when it was announced that the <a href="https://www.water-technology.net/projects/lesotho-highlands/">Lesotho Highlands Water Project</a> tunnel system, which supplies water to some of South Africa’s biggest cities, would be closed for maintenance for two months. </p>
<p>These fears were inflamed by appeals by local authorities in Gauteng province, the country’s economic hub, to use water sparingly. Residents had already seen the recent example of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/04/back-from-the-brink-how-cape-town-cracked-its-water-crisis">Cape Town’s water crisis</a>.</p>
<p>Gauteng and the surrounding region gets its water from the 14 interconnected dams of the <a href="http://www6.dwa.gov.za/Vaal/">Integrated Vaal River System</a>. Some of these are in Lesotho, South Africa’s mountainous neighbour. </p>
<p>The Lesotho dams provide over 25% of the water supplied by the Integrated Vaal River System. So a permanent loss of supply from Lesotho would indeed cause shortages for millions of South Africans. But this <a href="https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/lesotho-highlands-water-project-tunnel-shutdown-maintenance">long-planned maintenance</a> merely stores the water in Lesotho’s dams for a few months, to be released later. There are far greater risks emerging in the Integrated Vaal River System that need to be addressed. </p>
<p>Despite the current heat wave, there is in fact no danger of an immediate water shortage in the Gauteng cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria. Specialists concluded very recently that no water use restrictions would be required in the Vaal River System this summer. This followed a detailed review of the state of the dams in the system mapped against possible future rainfall patterns and current consumption levels.</p>
<p>But there are issues that residents of Gauteng and surrounding areas should be concerned about. Specifically, are the authorities responsible for managing water supplies keeping their eye on the ball? And are they ensuring that plans to protect the province from shortages over the next six years will be implemented on time?</p>
<h2>What lies ahead</h2>
<p>Concerns have been fuelled by many well-founded <a href="http://pmg-assets.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/180327AGSA-Challenges_Water_Sanitation.pdf">reports</a> of mismanagement at the Department of Water and Sanitation, which has oversight responsibility for water security. And the experience of a <a href="https://www.fin24.com/Budget/how-medupi-and-kusile-are-sinking-south-africa-20191009">faltering electricity supply</a> has shown that weak management of critical services like water and electricity can easily trigger supply crises. </p>
<p>So where should concerned water users be looking for problems to emerge?</p>
<p>Falling dam levels are not a problem. Dams are built to store water in wet periods to draw on when it’s needed; they rise in the rainy season and fall when it’s dry. If that didn’t happen, they would not be necessary. What people should be checking is whether the authorities are monitoring the situation. </p>
<p>In the case of the Vaal River System, it’s reassuring that the Department of Water and Sanitation technicians did hold their annual operating review to decide whether restrictions were needed. This procedure is what kept the region water secure during the 2015/2016 <a href="http://www.randwater.co.za/SalesAndCustomerServices/Forums%20Presentations/Water%20Services%20Forum%20Presentations/2016/May%202016/Raw%20Water%20Availability%20in%20IVRS%20-%20presented%20to%20WSF%2024%20May%202016.pptx">drought</a>. </p>
<p>The more important question is whether the Integrated Vaal River System supply infrastructure is adequate. </p>
<p>The Department of Water and Sanitation has <a href="http://www6.dwa.gov.za/Vaal/documents/LargeBulkWater/09_Vaal%20Recon%20Executive%20Summary_Final.pdf">plans</a> for interventions to ensure adequate supplies for all major systems, including the Vaal River System, until 2040 and beyond. But plans on paper need to be translated into infrastructure and into changed behaviour among water users. In this area, there is good reason for concern. </p>
<p>The plans anticipate that the Vaal River System has to be expanded. It has long been recognised that the most economical source for new water supplies is an additional dam in Lesotho. </p>
<p>Action is now urgent. By 2012, the decision to build the <a href="http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/phase-ii-update-polihali-dam-construction-expected-in-2019-2016-07-29/rep_id:4136">Polihali Dam</a> had been taken by the Lesotho and South African governments. But progress has been repeatedly delayed. One delay was <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2016-08-05-amabhungane-nomvula-mokonyanes-alleged-interference-in-lesotho-water-project-cited-as-causing-delays/">reportedly</a> caused by the South African minister attempting to redesign the procurement process.</p>
<p>So, by 2017, when the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority got the go-ahead to start design work, the project was already five years late. </p>
<p>Recent <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2018-04-20-00-challenge-damns-lesotho-water-project">reports</a> from Lesotho suggest that there have been efforts to bypass procurement procedures, despite warnings from the authority that formal tendering processes have to be followed. And, even though preparatory infrastructure construction has already started, South African authorities have not delegated decision-making processes and are taking months to respond on practical project management issues. There are also fears that past mismanagement at the Department of Water and Sanitation may make it harder to raise the loans to fund the main <a href="http://m.engineeringnews.co.za/article/municipal-debt-threatening-water-security-dg-warns-2019-10-22-1">construction work</a>. </p>
<p>Delays at this stage pose a real challenge. If a contractor has to stop work while waiting for a decision on a design change, delay penalties can cost South African water users millions of rands a day. Worse still, any delay extends the period during which the region will be at risk of shortages if there is a drought. </p>
<h2>Demand</h2>
<p>Rand Water, which supplies most of the municipalities in the region, has a licence to take 1,600 million cubic metres of water a year from the Vaal River System. The balance of the system’s supply goes to Eskom, the power utility as well as industry, mining and agriculture. </p>
<p>The population of Gauteng is growing by 3% annually, as people flock in to look for work. The fastest-growing water use sector is domestic supply by municipalities. </p>
<p>But water availability from the Vaal River System will remain the same until the Polihali dam is completed. This means that, to avoid a water crisis in the event of a drought between now and 2026, water use per person in the region is going to have to <a href="https://www.gcro.ac.za/news-events/news/detail/gcro-develops-gauteng-water-security-plan/">reduce</a> by 3% every year. </p>
<p>Over the next six years, all municipalities will have to keep their consumption static, no matter how fast their populations grow. Rand Water has initiated a special “Project 1600” to enforce these <a href="http://www.randwater.co.za/SalesAndCustomerServices/Forums%20Presentations/Mining%20and%20Industry%20Forum%20Presentations/2019/May%202019/Mining%20and%20industrial%20forum%20-23%20%20May%202019.pdf">limits</a>. </p>
<p>Of course, the feared drought disaster might never happen. If good rains fall every year between now and 2026, citizens might be able to squeeze through without tightening their belts. But nature can hit hard and in unexpected ways. Good water management is all about disaster risk reduction, not disaster management. </p>
<p>There are plans to provide enough water to meet the needs of all of South Africa’s major cities until at least 2030. As in the Vaal River System region, what matters is acting on those plans in good time. </p>
<p>Water security requires changing people’s behaviour, building new infrastructure and operating it properly. And this will only be achieved if political heads take the lead and avoid further delays. </p>
<p><em>This article is the first in a series looking at South Africa’s water challenges</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125742/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Muller has received funding from the Water Research Commission and the African Development Bank for research and advisory work related to the subject matter of this article. He also advises a variety of organisations on water related matters including national, provincial and local government, AgriSA and business organisations including BUSA and SAICA.</span></em></p>South Africa’s Department of Water and Sanitation has plans in place to ensure adequate water supply until 2040 and beyond.Mike Muller, Visiting Adjunct Professor, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1036252018-10-22T14:29:47Z2018-10-22T14:29:47ZCancer causing toxicants found in a tributary of South Africa’s second largest river<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241267/original/file-20181018-67176-tsbne9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A water bridge over the Klip River in Gauteng, South Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>A new <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969718304650?via%3Dihub">study</a> has established that sharptooth catfish found in the Klip River which feeds into the Vaal River, South Africa’s second largest river, contains banned pesticides which can cause cancer when consumed by humans.</em></p>
<p><em>The river runs through high density residential areas, including Soweto, Lenasia and Fleurhof in the south of Johannesburg. Some residents supplement their diet by fishing the popular catfish in the rivers as well as dams fed by them. The Conversation Africa’s Nontobeko Mtshali asked Rialet Pieters to explain the implications of these findings.</em></p>
<p><strong>What are these banned pesticides?</strong></p>
<p>The pesticides we looked at are collectively known as organochlorine pesticides. They are used in agriculture to control insects that eat crops. </p>
<p>We did a human health risk assessment on the sharptooth catfish found in Orlando Dam and the Fleurhof and Lenasia areas in the south of Johannesburg. We chose this fish because it’s popular and widely consumed. The pesticides we targeted in the sharptooth catfish were lindane, heptachlor, aldrin, dieldrin, endrin and dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro-ethane (DDT). We found levels of heptachlor, DDT, and lindane in the fish. </p>
<p>All of the pesticides except for one, DDT, which is used against malaria-carrying mosquitoes, are banned in South Africa. So they should not be in the river. It’s not clear how they ended up in the Soweto, Fleurhof and Lenasia areas, though they could have made their way down the river from malaria-prone rural areas of the country.</p>
<p>The pesticides, with the exception of DDT, were banned by the international community under the <a href="http://chm.pops.int/">Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants</a> because of their harmful effects on the health of humans and wildlife. South Africa is a signatory to the convention and is obliged to reduce and eliminate the use of all the compounds <a href="http://chm.pops.int/TheConvention/ThePOPs/AllPOPs/tabid/2509/Default.aspx">listed in the convention</a>.</p>
<p>The DDT presence is unusual in an urban area because it’s mostly used in more rural settings to control mosquitoes and the spread of malaria.</p>
<p><strong>How bad are the pollution levels in the river that runs through Soweto, Fleurhof and Lenasia?</strong></p>
<p>We found the pesticides were present in fish tissue that we tested. DDT was the most prevalent at all the sites. The concentrations of the pesticides were at levels much higher than internationally accepted parameters. This suggests the fish pose a risk to human health because the compounds bio-accumulate in the fish and when people eat them they can potentially cause cancer.</p>
<p>There is <a href="http://publications.iarc.fr/Book-And-Report-Series/Iarc-Monographs-On-The-Evaluation-Of-Carcinogenic-Risks-To-Humans/Occupational-Exposures-In-Insecticide-Application-And-Some-Pesticides-1991">evidence</a> that the banned pesticides, as well as DDT, can cause a host of cancers such as lung, skin, bladder, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, to name but a few. </p>
<p>We did a human health risk assessment using the concentrations of the pollutants in the fish to predict their effects in humans when consumed regularly. We collected 30 sharptooth catfish (one of several species of fish in the river) and determined the concentrations of DDT in the fillet. </p>
<p>We then calculated the chances of developing cancer for a human weighing 60 kg and eating 30 g of the contaminated fish every day. We followed the internationally standardised <a href="http://www.epa.gov/cancerguidelines/2005">calculations</a> and values for predicting human cancer risk. To account for the varying levels of pesticides in fish, cancer risk was calculated for the mid-range and high range pollutant level.</p>
<p>The probable cancer risk to DDT exposure varied between the three sites. The probability of developing cancer from eating the fish contaminated by DDT from Lenasia was the highest. We found that 251 out of 10 000 people may develop cancer if exposed to the mid-range level of the pesticide and 1 105 out of 10 000 people may develop cancer from the high range. At Fleurhof the risk ranged from 172 to 359 in 10 000 and at Orlando Dam from 191 to 624 in 10 000 people. </p>
<p>According to the US Environment Protection Agency, any risk greater than 1 in 10 000 is deemed an “unacceptable risk”. </p>
<p>We did not calculate the total cancer risk potentially posed by all the compounds together. Our focus was on DDT because of the high concentrations we found.</p>
<p><strong>What should be done to fix the problem?</strong></p>
<p>People who regularly eat or buy fish from the contaminated water need to be made aware of the risks to their health. One way of doing so is to have notice boards that advise on the safe consumption levels of the different species.</p>
<p>Fish from these areas need to be monitored regularly. And the sale of pesticides needs to be regulated better to ensure that the banned ones aren’t being traded.</p>
<p><em>Nico Wolmarans also contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103625/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rialet Pieters receives funding from the Water Research Commission (K2/2242/1/16) of South Africa and the National Research Foundation</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mayumi Ishizuka works at Hokkaido University. She receives funding from JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nico Smit receives funding from South Africa's National Research Foundation (NRF). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruan Gerber received funding from the Nation Research Foundation (NRF).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victor Wepener receives funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF), the Department of Science and Technology and the Flemish Inter University Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wihan Pheiffer receives funding from Water Research Commission (K2/2242/1/16) of South Africa and the National Research Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yared Beyene and Yoshinori Ikeneka do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Harmful pesticides have been found in the widely consumed sharptooth catfish found in a river that runs through Johannesburg.Rialet Pieters, Associate professor, North-West UniversityMayumi Ishizuka, Professor of Environmental Toxicology, Hokkaido UniversityNico J Smit, Director: Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West UniversityRuan Gerber, Postdoctoral fellow, North-West UniversityVictor Wepener, Director: School for Biological Science, North-West UniversityWihan Pheiffer, Senior Lecturer, DST/NWU Preclinical Drug Delivery Platform, North-West UniversityYared Beyene, Researcher, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido UniversityYoshinori Ikeneka, Researcher, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1021362018-08-29T14:18:15Z2018-08-29T14:18:15ZHow structural flaws contribute to the crisis in South Africa’s municipalities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233881/original/file-20180828-86129-1iao6ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Vaal River in Gauteng, South Africa's richest province, is polluted.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Jon Hrusa</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The dire state of municipal governance in South Africa has been <a href="https://www.news24.com/Opinions/IN-FOCUS/in-focus-zweli-mkhizes-4-point-plan-to-fix-municipalities-20180601">in the news</a> for much of this year. Recent events in <a href="http://www.emfuleni.gov.za/">Emfuleni Local Municipality</a>, an urban municipality with <a href="http://citypopulation.info/php/southafrica-admin.php?adm2id=GT421">more than 700 000 residents</a> in Gauteng, the country’s economic hub, show the extent of the problem.</p>
<p>The municipality, located to the south of Johannesburg, has been unable to settle water and electricity debts owing to the utilities <a href="https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/rand-water-threatens-to-cut-water-to-emfuleni-municipality-over-r419m-debt-20180411">Rand Water</a> and <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2018/07/24/eskom-emfuleni-municipality-at-loggerheads-over-debt">Eskom</a>. This has led to services to residents being reduced or cut. Lack of infrastructure maintenance has further bedevilled the delivery of water and electricity, as well as rubbish removal. </p>
<p>Sewage spills <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/the-star/raw-sewerage-run-on-streets-and-taps-remains-dry-as-emfuleni-water-issues-continue-16249851">have plagued suburbs</a> and <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/science-and-environment/2018-07-31-emfuleni-faces-catastrophe-as-sewage-threatens-crops-and-tourism/">severely polluted the Vaal River</a> - the main source of drinking water in the province that is also crucial to its tourism and agriculture. The municipality’s entire basic vehicle fleet was recently <a href="https://www.thesouthafrican.com/emfuleni-municipality-vehicles-repossessed/">repossessed by creditors</a>.</p>
<p>In June, the Gauteng Provincial government placed the municipality under <a href="https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/emfuleni-work-progress">financial administration</a>. </p>
<p>Emfuleni is not alone. The national minister responsible for municipalities recently said 31% of the country’s municipalities are <a href="http://www.cogta.gov.za/?p=3447">“dysfunctional”</a>, and another 31% “almost dysfunctional”. He went on to say that many South African municipalities are battling with financial management as well as good governance and <a href="http://www.cogta.gov.za/?p=3447">administration</a>.</p>
<p>Given its extensive infrastructure and a large tax base, Emfuleni is the kind of municipality that has little excuse not to function well. If it is failing, how could less developed municipalities thrive?</p>
<h2>Who is to blame?</h2>
<p>It’s tempting to blame the government for the municipality’s troubles.</p>
<p>According to the National Treasury’s <a href="https://municipalmoney.gov.za/profiles/municipality-GT421-emfuleni/">municipal finance data website</a>, Emfuleni had a healthy cash balance in 2015. But it then fell by over a third in 2016, before collapsing in 2017. While the municipality did have problems with wasteful expenditure and budget <a href="https://municipalmoney.gov.za/profiles/municipality-GT421-emfuleni/">overspending before,</a> things got much worse after the local government elections in August 2016.</p>
<p>The municipality has also been experiencing political turmoil. The previous mayor resigned in 2017 amid a sex scandal and rumours of <a href="https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2017-11-21-anc-gauteng-welcomes-resignation-of-emfuleni-mayor-mofokeng/">financial mismanagement</a>. <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2018-06-05-da-accuses-anc-of-running-emfuleni-municipality-into-the-ground/">Opposition parties</a> and <a href="https://www.thesouthafrican.com/emfuleni-local-minicipality-makhosi-khoza-outa/">civil society organisations</a> blame the council and mayor, who are from the governing African National Congress, for the municipality’s problems. </p>
<p>But it’s also necessary to look beyond people and politics, and consider whether structural factors have contributed to the crisis. Emfuleni’s problems perhaps point to flaws in the way in which local government in South Africa is structured and financed.</p>
<h2>Raising revenue</h2>
<p>Emfuleni’s cash shortage has partly been blamed on poor collection of <a href="https://www.enca.com/south-africa/emfuleni-intervention-to-focus-on-revenue-recovery-makhura">revenue from service charges</a>. This highlights the extent to which South African towns depend on income from service delivery. <a href="https://municipalmoney.gov.za/profiles/municipality-GT421-emfuleni/">Municipal finance data</a> show that Emfuleni generated about 85% of its own income in the 2016/2017 financial year. (The rest came from its equitable share of national tax revenue and grants from national government). Most of its self-raised revenue came from service charges.</p>
<p>A budget that depends on recovering service debt means that the ability to run the municipality depends on how much residents can consume and pay for. This is neither stable nor sustainable.</p>
<p>A number of factors affect these revenue streams. The first is that a <a href="https://www.fin24.com/Economy/culture-of-non-payment-threatens-stability-of-municipal-finances-treasury-20180308">culture of non-payment</a> is pervasive among residents. Secondly, service revenue is also often affected by supply side constraints, such as <a href="https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/the-inherent-problem-of-municipal-financing-20180421">water scarcity</a> or power cuts. And lastly, a revenue stream based on consumption also assumes that most residents can afford services. This isn’t always the case.</p>
<p>Emfuleni has gone through tough economic times in recent years. Unemployment has risen sharply and some better off residents have moved away. This does not bode well for service demand, or the ability to pay for what has been consumed.</p>
<p>The problem won’t go away unless municipalities find less volatile ways of balancing the books. A greater allocation from national government would be one route. So would raising money through loans and imposing taxes or development levies on businesses.</p>
<p>But the problem goes beyond money. </p>
<h2>Unclear lines of accountability</h2>
<p>At least some of the crisis in Emfuleni has been down to mismanagement. This calls into question how municipalities are run. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/SAConstitution-web-eng.pdf">Constitution</a>, local governments have both legislative and executive functions. This means that there isn’t a clear separation of powers between municipal executive leaders (mayors) and the councils to which they report. </p>
<p>On top of this, municipal powers are closely tied to administrative functions, meaning that there is an overlap between political and bureaucratic structures in municipalities. </p>
<p>The close connection between different functions makes sense. But it makes lines of accountability unclear. This isn’t helped by the fact that municipalities can chose from different governance models. This means that accountability works differently in almost every municipality. </p>
<p>This may well have added to Emfuleni’s woes. The municipality has an elected municipal council and an executive mayor system. It is further part of the <a href="http://www.sedibeng.gov.za/">Sedibeng District Municipality</a>, with which it shares responsibility for many of its functions.</p>
<p>There are concerns that executive mayor systems give too much power to mayors and <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2018-06-25-municipalities-must-change-the-way-they-are-governed/">not enough to councils</a>. There is also insufficient accountability, and flows of information, between local and <a href="https://www.salga.org.za/Documents/NMMF%202016/Reporting%20between%20Districts%20and%20Locals.pdf">regional municipalities</a>.</p>
<p>South African municipal governance is also bedevilled by the influence of political parties over councils, mayors and the administration. In Emfuleni, for instance, the mayor initially resigned when the council was put under administration, but then withdrew his resignation after <a href="https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/anc-says-emfuleni-mayor-back-on-the-job-20180608">the ANC intervened</a>.</p>
<h2>What needs to happen</h2>
<p>South Africa may have to consider reducing the governance options available to municipalities, to ensure more uniformity and easier oversight. It also needs to devise uniform, simple and clear, internal accountability structures for local government. And it should seriously consider legally regulating the line between political parties and the civil service.</p>
<p>Finally, provincial intervention in local government affairs is not ideal, and should only happen in extreme cases – as has been the case in Emfuleni. But it would be better if this was triggered by an event - such as a municipality falling into arrears with the water or electricity supplier – rather than waiting for political discretion to be exercised.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102136/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marius Pieterse receives funding from Wits University and the NRF. </span></em></p>South Africa’s local governments lack a clear separation of legislative and executive powers.Marius Pieterse, Professor of Law, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.