Sanitation Policy and Prevention of Environmental Contamination in South Africa

Abstract

Prior to 1994, 21 million people were without access to sanitation in South Africa. Progress towards the backlog elimination started after 1994, but was slow-paced. From 1994 until 2011, the sanitation backlog has been decreased by between 29.8 and 79.2 % from the 1994 levels, depending on the province. Mechanisms were created for implementation of sanitation projects, but this was marginally successful and risk of environmental pollution from sanitation persisted. The period between 2009 and present day seemed to have brought on a significant fast-tracking of sanitation project around South Africa. This coincides with the transfer of oversight and partial implementation responsibility to the Department of Human Settlement and the launch of the Rural Household Infrastructure Programme. It also originated from the integrated programmes which drew in input from all stakeholders at the national and local government levels. Limitations still exist in maintenance and sanitation skills' portfolio of some local municipalities, mainly in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo Province. However, the present status is still in partial conflict with government aims, legislation and policies. Novel tools such as the Technology Assessment and the Environmental Technology Assessment will have to be implemented in the sanitation decision-making and the novel strategies for skills development will have to be devised. If sufficient maintenance skills are developed in a local municipal area, then this will prevent negative environmental effects and results in lowered sanitation-related environmental contamination. Improvement in can be expected from the new national Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation.

Disaster Risk Management, Ventilated Improved Pit Latrines, and Sanitation Challenges in South Africa

“…Managing and responding to the relevant disaster risks will thus form a critical part of sustainable disaster risk management and municipal planning in South Africa (for example [10,11]). In the context of urban sanitation, the disaster Risk (designated as Ri in further text) is defined as the potential danger to the human population due to a particular epidemic or infectious disease outbreak related to sanitation.…”

“…The terms epidemic and infectious disease will be considered synonymous in further text for the context of disaster risk management and sanitation in South Africa. In disaster risk management, the Ri value can be mathematically expressed using several equations, but here the one by Tandlich et al [10,11] will be used as outlined in Equation (1).…”

“…In the context of public health, it can be seen as synonymous with endemicity or the likelihood of sanitation or hygiene-related epidemics [12]. Vul is the population's vulnerability to that sanitation-related epidemic in the "disaster-prone/affected area" [11]. Res are the values of resilience of the said human population to the epidemic/disaster in question.…”

“…The terms of Prep, Vul, and Res are to be seen as intersecting in Equation (1). Res can also be defined as "the ability of a system, community, or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate to and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the restoration of its essential basic structures and functions" [10,11,13]. Since this definition was operationalized and published, several other definitions of resilience have emerged.…”

“…This in turn can increase the probability of an outbreak of a diarrhoeal or sanitation-related disease, which can be considered as health-related disasters requiring consideration from the disaster risk management point of view. Disaster risk management deals with detrimental impacts of disasters on the human population and seeks to mitigate them [10,11]. Based on the above discussion, climate change and sanitation-related challenges will be, at least partially, interlinked in South Africa.…”