2011 Honor Award - Operations/Management

Green and Blue Drop Certification for Incentive-Based Regulation in the South African Water Sector

Location: South Africa
Entrant: Department of Water Affairs: Water Service Regulation (State Department)
Engineer in Charge: Leonardo Manus
Media Contact: Dr. Marlene vd Merwe-Botha; +27(11)954-0242; marlene@watergroup.co.za

Entrant Profile

Under leadership of Minister of Water Affairs, Edna Molewa, the project is spearheaded by Director: Water Services Regulation (Leonardo Manus), with the Director-General (Trevor Balzer) and Chief Director: Regulation (Helgard Muller) as project sponsor.

The team (approximate 20 specialists) is made up by:

a small group of government officials in the national unit
government officials in the nine different regions (provinces) across the country, and
a select group of water and wastewater specialists from private sector.

The team comprise of a registered professionals with scientific and engineering degrees in water and wastewater management, and 7-35 years experience in their disciplines. A trainee programme runs with the project, consisting of Young Professionals with technical and scientific background, but with inadequate experience on the ground.

In sharing with his management, Leonardo shares a deep passion for the South African water sector. Leonardo holds a National Diploma from the Cape University of Technology in Civil Engineering and has dedicated the last 8 years to water services regulation with the Department of Water Affairs. His role was critical in the early conceptualization and stakeholder consultation of the Blue Drop and Green Drop project. He then spearheaded the development of the various criteria under each of the "Drop", in line with the maturity of the water sector. Each year, he decides on the criteria and its weight to 'raise' the bar continuously and incrementally. In parallel, he initiated the development of the Blue Drop (www.dwa.gov.za/bluedrop) and Green Drop (www.dwa.gov.za/greendrop) Systems, as regulatory and performance management systems.

Project Description

Integrated Approach

The most important determinants to public health and environmental integrity, is the provision of safe drinking water and effective wastewater services (sanitation). In South Africa, local municipalities are responsible for water services delivery. The Department of Water Affairs, as Regulatory and custodian of water resources, have become increasingly concerned primarily about two aspects: 1) a high number of water- and wastewater treatment works are not compliant with the required standards; and 2) that the public do not have access to the required information regarding the status of this situation in their local areas.

The BLUE DROP (BD) and GREEN DROP (GD) incentive-based programme were introduced fundamentally to rectify the above gaps. The Certification processes assess, verify and recognise excellence in the water (BLUE) and wastewater (GREEN) industry and encourages municipal wastewater practitioners to work towards the achievement of Certification in acknowledgement of their state of excellence in wastewater services.

The synergies between water and energy security, food and the socio-economic and environmental aspects are continuously weighted into the 9x Blue- and 11x Green Drop criteria, with acknowledgement of the following "drivers of change":

Economic growth linked to green jobs
Natural resource and water quality
Consumer voice
Climate change and SA's commitment to reduce GHG by 34% by 2020
Aging, deterioration and sub-standard quality infrastructure
Adaptive management and institutional dynamics
Increase in human settlements.

The Blue/Green Drop has become an effective "pressure trigger" that manages to grab the attention of political principles, municipal administrators and provide a synergistic approach by sector partners. On an international arena, this regulatory approach was presented to the Drinking Water Regulators Network (RegNet) of the World Health Association in Singapore in June 2009. A partnership has been growing ever since with the UK Inspectorate.

Quality and Complexity

The 1st Blue Drop assessments took place in 2008/2009 with 66% of municipalities participating. The 2nd BDC of 2009/2010 showed a marked increase whereby 94% of municipalities competed for BDC status.

A number of improvements were noted:

Number of systems assessed in 2010 almost doubled (440 to 787 assessments), indicated the value that municipalities see in the process
Number of BDC water supply systems increased from 23 to 38 systems, showing a steady improvement in water purification management and water quality.
With regards to National performance:
- 13% of municipalities scored >90% (Excellent)
- 12% = 75% - 90% (Very Good)
- 30% = 50% - 75% (Good)
- 21% = 33% - 50% (Needs Attention)
- 24% = 75% - 90% (Needs Urgent Attention)

The 1st round of GDC were published for results achieved in 2009. With the exception of the GDC excellence centers, wastewater services were generally poor and significant gaps were identified for improvement:

7.4% of all wastewater systems in SA achieved GD status (6 municipalities)
45% of systems scored better than 50%
55% of systems scored between 0 - 49%
53% of all systems were assessed
47% of systems were not assessed due to non-participation / low confidence.

The 2nd GDC round for 2010/2011 ran from August 2010 to January 2011, with preliminary results (figure right) indicating that 466 (52.5%) plants progress, 22.3% plants remain unchanged and 25.1%.

The following news clips testify to the positive reception of the program by the sector:

Originality

Regulation is usually applied as a "cut-and-dry" monitoring and enforcement process. Hence, the SA incentive-based approach was initially received with some skepticism by local and international peers. It is only until recently, that the value of the approach is being measured and scientifically substantiated as a key "turnaround" catalyst in the water industry.

Furthermore, with the renewed emphasis on wastewater management, the Green Drop approach is innovatively coupled with a "targeted risk-based approach", which combine "incentive" and risk abatement" in one package to ensure that targeted and resourced intervention take place at plant(scheme) level, where the impact is greatest on the receiving environment and public health.

In accordance with the risk formulae: CCR = A*B+C+D (where A = Design Capacity, B = Average Daily Flow Amount exceeding, C = non-compliant effluent trends, D = noncompliance in terms of technical skills), the following national risk profile can be presented:

The strategic decrease of risk (CRR) will receive due weight in the upcoming Green Drop 2011/12 focus. The Wastewater Risk Abatement Plan (W₂RAP) will be used in the same fashion as the Water Safety Plan (WSP) has been used for drinking water management. A "W₂RAP Guide" is under development (DWA, Water Research Commission, Febr 2011 release) to assist municipalities towards raised wastewater performance. Figure: integrated approach across Water Cycle.

Social-Economic Advancement

Economic growth impacts on the Water Cycle, both in terms of the abstraction and discharge. The slowing economy, rising food prices, increased poverty, deteriorating water quality and increased health problems requires improved and sustained treatment and innovative use/reuse of water and wastewater. The Blue- and Green Drop are cognizant of the factors that impact on the country's social and economic dynamics. In light of most recent example, the news clip on the right shows the link between Blue Drop Status, the FIFA World-cup and consequently the impact on SA's economy.

"Greatness comes from focus" (Paula Williams): With some milestones achieved, a steep path still lies ahead of the Blue- and Green Drop programme. With the recognistion of excellence in SA, the Blue/Green Drop Core Competency Development Work Plan seeks to hold up a benchmark on what world best practice identifies as core values and set out a work plan for the SA water sector, whereby municipal management and national regulation authorities can focus effort and work towards improved and sustainable water and wastewater management.

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May 22, 2012

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