The city released a statement on Thursday, 19 November explaining that it had come to an agreement with stakeholders to ensure the city has access to clean water and sanitation.
“To address water and sanitation challenges in the City, eThekwini Municipality’s Water and Sanitation Unit in partnership with the Water Research Commission (WRC) recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop innovative ways to ensure eThekwini residents have access to clean water and proper sanitation,” said the city’s spokesperson, Msawakhe Mayisela.
Mayisela said the understanding will guide those involved in the collaboration, the facilities and innovation to enable research, sharing, co-creation, piloting and upscaling of new technologies for improved public access to water and sanitation.
“One of the areas of co-operation will be around non-sewered sanitation systems which remains a critical challenge in informal, peri-urban and rural communities across South Africa,” said Mayisela.
Population growth
“With a growing population, supplying clean and safe drinking water and proper sanitation remains a significant challenge in the country which has impacted service delivery,” he explained.
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Head of Water and Sanitation, Ednick Msweli said eThekwini has a large indigent population requiring services which is exacerbated by difficult settlement types and terrains.
“This partnership will facilitate access to new and innovative solutions that have been developed by the WRC and trialled through their innovation acceleration platforms such as the Water Technologies Demonstration Programme and the South African Sanitation Technology Enterprise Programme,” said Msweli.
He added that aging infrastructure, water pollution, water scarcity and climate change are some of the key challenges they face.
“These innovative solutions will enable both parties to identify specific solutions for any particular challenge encountered by eThekwini and is of mutual interest to both parties.”
Sustainable
Dhesigen Naidoo, Chief Executive Officer of the Water Research Commission (WRC) said the commission strongly believes that innovation inclusive of technological, social and institutional innovations will lead South Africa towards a sustainable service delivery model and a sustainable future.
“It is exciting to collaborate with an entity that shares our vision of testing and upscaling sustainable innovations that address water and sanitation challenges and is willing to catalyse its commercialisation and uptake for the benefit of all South Africans,” said Naidoo.
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