With the recent (2023) Blue Drop Report release by the Department Water and Sanitation Theewaterskloof Municipality received the following accolades for Drinking Water Quality Management:
- Blue Drop Certificate of excellence for Botrivier Water Supply System for scoring 96.55.
- Second runner up for Best Progress from 2014 – 2023: Institutional Blue Drop Score improved from 64.18 – 89.56.
To share the achievement with the town’s Process Controllers and other personnel the Municipal Manager, Mr. Wilfred Solomons-Johannes and the Manager Water, Sanitation and Solid Waste, Mr. Hegans Marthinus, took the award to the delighted colleagues.
Blue Drop is an unique incentive-based regulation that aims to instigate institutional behavior changes that enable continuous improvement and the implementation of best practices—from the abstraction stage through water treatment works to the point of consumption.
For the audit cycle the entire value chain (abstraction, treatment, and distribution) of our water business was assessed.
The team of assessors measured and compared the holistic function of the water systems against pre-determined minimum standards requirements for a period of 12 months.
The comprehensive assessment indicated a blue drop score of 96.55% for Botrivier Water Supply System and an increase in the Municipal Blue Drop Score from 64.18% in 2014 to 89.6% in 2023.
The assessment showed that Botrivier Water Treatment Works is progressively improving and that it complies with excellent performances.
Solomons-Johannes commented that the deployment of a dedicated person for Blue Drop compliance led to the increase in the Blue Drop performance and that the municipality will escalate the success of the water system in Botrivier to other towns in Theewaterskloof.
“We have things in place, and this include a water safety plans, risk registers, sustainable support functions on the maintenance side, skilled operators, good management, excellent engineering capacities and scientists. We rely on the satisfactory handling of incidents, water demand management and the daily flow and logging of data to evaluate the treatment works in terms of its design capacities and water quality” he said.
Solomons-Johannes said this achievement was a team effort and that the entire municipality must take the credit for the blue drop.
“I acknowledge and appreciate the great work done by the plant operators and the technical directorate, but the entire municipality is in a service upliftment and development mode, and this is, for now, sufficient recognition for the work we do to provide the best possible services to the people of Theewaterskloof. This award will inspire us to work even more innovative and smart.”
Issued by the Communications Department, Theewaterskloof Municipality.