Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister, David Mahlobo, has hailed a partnership between the Department of Water and Sanitation and the University of South Africa’s (UNISA) to enhance the provision of clean and safe drinking water.
Mahlobo met with the UNISA College of Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET), led by the university’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Puleng LenkaBula, at the university’s Science Campus in Florida, Johannesburg this week.
UNISA’s Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability (iNanoWS) is a strategic research niche at CSET, and it addresses the current and emerging issues related to water quality and water scarcity.
At the meeting, Mahlobo encouraged the university to use its voice and expertise to collaborate with the department to solve South Africa’s water challenges, and to assist municipalities through its use of technology to bring sustainable solutions to the country’s shortcomings, particularly on issues of water quality.
“As the Department of Water and Sanitation, we are already using technology to analyse water quality at municipalities through the Blue and Green Drop Programme. Therefore, UNISA can also make a remarkable contribution to resolve water quality issues through its research and technology.
“The collaboration with UNISA will also strengthen municipalities to ensure safe and drinkable water is supplied to communities. Our weakness is in municipalities, but I believe with partnerships like this, water quality in the country will be improved,” Mahlobo said.
Responding to specific scarce and technical skills
Mahlobo highlighted that the department’s learning academy offers bursaries for full-time pre and postgraduate studies to students who pursue water and sanitation fields.
He noted that following their graduation, the students join the department as graduate trainees who are exposed to the workplace in order to register professionally with respective institutions.
Mahlobo said the academy is the department’s vehicle to respond to specific scarce and technical skill-related issues that are affecting the department and the entire water sector.
“We further call on UNISA that through our partnership, we should strive to produce more graduates that will bring their knowledge to the department. UNISA is the best institution in water research and innovation, and it can produce leaders in the water and sanitation field,” Mahlobo said.
The Deputy Minister reiterated the significance of the partnership which will “improve the lives of South Africans, as far as water provision is concerned”.
“Our partnership will be instrumental in building a country we all yearn for. We are here to join hands and to partner with you to improve the lives of our people.”
Mahlobo committed to revisiting the college for a tour of the university’s iNanoWS, to observe its innovative ways of research in water sustainability, especially through the implementation of water treatment strategies and technologies that involve the work on nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology refers to the practice of manipulating atoms and molecules at the nanoscale, which is between one and 100 nanometers. By making alterations at the atomic level, researchers can transform the chemical and physical properties of a substance. – SAnews.gov.za
