The government says it will meet and even surpass the water and sanitation targets set at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg two years ago.
Director General of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Chippy Olver told the Johannesburg +2 conference this week that by 2010 all South Africans will have access to adequate sanitation and safe drinking water.
In an interview with the Mail & Guardian last week Olver said water and sanitation were areas where South Africa had performed exceptionally well.
“The global water and sanitation target is to halve the number of people who don’t have access to clean water and sanitation by 2015,” he said. “We are on track, not only to halve the number of people [without such services], but also to eliminate our backlog for water delivery by 2008 and sanitation by 2010.”
This is due to the government’s dedicated programme of service delivery in areas of need since 1994, said Olver. “It has been a complex effort, but the government had the political will to address these issues. I think — on both the social side and the economic side — the government is doing extremely well in rolling out social delivery programmes.”
But a paper by the Human Sciences Research Council casts doubt on whether progress is being made in addressing the backlog in the provision of these services.
The HSRC paper, entitled Beating the Backlog: Meeting Targets and Providing Free Basic Services, was presented to the National Treasury in June.
The paper says that in 1994 the apartheid backlog in water delivery affected about 12-million people. Despite subsequent provision of water to almost nine million people, the backlog is now calculated at 10,6-million. The definition of provision is based on the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) standard of a tap within 200m of dwellings.
The paper says that, at the current level of spending, a further seven million people will have water delivery to RDP levels only by the 2011/12 financial year, leaving six million without such access.
The paper found 4,3-million households lack access to “improved sanitation”, such as flush or ventilated toilets, and says, at current levels of spending, this backlog will be alleviated only in the 2020/21 financial year.
A report from Unicef and the World Health Organisation, entitled Meeting the Millennium Develop-ment Goals Drinking Water and Sanitation Target: A Mid-term Assessment of Progress, provides the latest estimates and trends on global progress in meeting water and sanitation targets.
According to the report, 87% of South Africans have access to safe drinking water, while only 67% have access to adequate sanitation.