Ermelo - Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Buyelwa Sonjica officially opened Mpumalanga's first district water quality laboratory in Ermelo in the Gert Sibande district on Friday.
During the launch, Sonjica said it was important that South Africa looked after its rivers because any degrading of rivers affected its neighbours as well.
"We as the department have the interests of our country's water at heart but we also have concern for our neighbours, in this case, the Kingdom of Swaziland that lies only 150km from here towards the sea.
"We have rivers that run from this district into Swaziland, for example, the Inkomati River that is fed from the Vygeboom Dam, the Assegaai River that is fed from the Heyshope Dam and runs into the Mkhondo River, and the Ngwempisi River that is fed from the Jericho and Morgenson dams," she said.
"We need to have good relations with our neighbouring countries and equitably share water that runs in common international catchments."
Sonjica said her department was providing a supportive role to municipalities but recently had to increase its compliance monitoring focus because of the deterioration of water quality in South Africa's rivers.
"Recently, I was informed of fish that are dying in the Blesbokspruit just outside Bethal. The department's team is investigating this development, however, preliminary reports are pointing to the Govan Mbeki Sewer works that is discharging non-compliant effluent into the spruit.
The department has issued non-compliant notices to the municipality," she said, adding that the laboratory would go a long way in assisting municipalities in the Gert Sibande district to monitor their effluent to avoid such environmental degradation.
The laboratory will assist with the monitoring of 62 water and sewage treatment plants in the district where, in 2008, an estimated 700 people contracted diarrhoea from contaminated drinking water in the Carolina area.
This came after a similar outbreak in 2007 as a result of heavy rains flooding local water supply systems
