The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), together with the Dutch Water Authorities, have held a Blue Deal Steering Committee meeting, focusing on the Blue Deal South Africa Programme, which aims to improve water management and access to clean water in South Africa.
According to the department, the meeting, held in Pretoria, on Friday, aimed at enabling environment for future Blue Deal partnerships, discuss lessons learned from the various projects, and provide strategic direction to address key bottlenecks.
“This Blue Deal Programme is a collaboration between the Republic of South Africa and the Government of the Netherlands to support water management by exchanging knowledge and experiences, assisting national, regional, and local organisations, and cooperating with key stakeholders. The Blue Deal South Africa Programme will specifically contribute to clean and sufficient water,” the department said in a statement.
During the meeting, the two parties discussed the Crocodile River Revitalisation Action Plan and its adoption and the Theewaterskloof Project Non-Sewer Sanitation pilot project.
“The Crocodile River faces threats of pollution from agriculture, industry, and municipalities. The performance of the wastewater treatment plants in the area is inadequate. The challenge is to improve the operation of the municipal wastewater management systems to ensure better water quality in the river.
“The objective of the Theewaterskloof project is to reduce pollution by improving sanitation and solid waste management through innovative solutions, such as non-sewered sanitation and harnessing the circular economy.
“General discussions covered the status of ongoing projects, a recap of 2024 Blue Deal activities, the outlook for the 2025 projects, and developments regarding international collaborations,” the department said.
DWS Director of International Relations, Albert Mmbidi said: “Today was an important day in the history of the Blue Deal programme. As a team, we managed to review the progress that the project has already made, the challenges, and we proposed solutions to the issues raised.
“We are confident that out of the solutions we have proposed, the programme will be able to run efficiently and strengthen the relationship between the two countries,” Mmbidi said. – SAnews.gov.za
