Department of water affairs and forestry technical guidelines for the development of water and sanitation infrastructure

1INTRODUCTION

Municipalities have a Constitutional responsibility for providing sustainable and viable water services to the communities within their areas of jurisdiction.

The purpose of these guidelines is to assist municipalities undertake the development of water and sanitation infrastructure, with a focus on the design aspects of development.
Further guidelines are in the process of being developed for Water Services Development Plans, social aspects and operation and maintenance of water services projects.

1.1Purpose of guidelines

It is important to note that these guidelines:

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  ARE MERELY INTENDED TO GIVE GUIDANCE TO MUNICIPAL OFFICIALS, PLANNERS AND DESIGNERS.
  

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  Are not intended to replace professional expertise and engineering judgement.
  

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  Provide overarching guidance and cannot be used as a replacement for specifications.
  

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  Must be used together with recognised standards, codes, and acts such as those of the South African Bureau of Standards (SANS Codes), the Water Services Act, the National Water Act, and the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
  

These guidelines are made available through two media:

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  A CD has been distributed which contains this document as well as a number of useful folders. The contents of the folders are listed at the end of this document.
  
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  A downloadable version of the document is also accessible from the web page of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. The DWAF web page also contains the same folders that are included on the CD.
  

1.2Definitions of minimum norms and standards

The aim of Water Services projects funded out of government grants is primarily to provide a basic level of water services.

Section 6 of the “Strategic Framework for Water Services” provides the minimum technical norms and standards for water services. The Strategic Framework is included in the Legislation and Policy Folder.
The following definitions and minimum standards are given in the Strategic Framework:
Basic water supply facility is:

The infrastructure necessary to supply 25 litres of potable water per person per day supplied within 200 metres of a household and with a minimum flow of 10 litres per minute (in the case of communal water points) or 6 000 litres of potable water supplied per formal connection per month (in the case of yard or house connections).

Basic water supply service is:

The provision of a basic water supply facility, the sustainable operation of the facility (available for at least 350 days per year and not interrupted for more than 48 consecutive hours per incident) and the communication of good water-use, hygiene and related practices.

Basic sanitation facility is:

The infrastructure necessary to provide a sanitation facility which is safe, reliable, private, protected from the weather and ventilated, keeps smells to the minimum, is easy to keep clean, minimises the risk of the spread of sanitation-related diseases by facilitating the appropriate control of disease carrying flies and pests, and enables safe and appropriate treatment and/or removal of human waste and wastewater in an environmentally sound manner.

Basic sanitation service is:

The provision of a basic sanitation facility which is easily accessible to a household, the sustainable operation of the facility, including the safe removal of human waste and wastewater from the premises where this is appropriate and necessary, and the communication of good sanitation, hygiene and related practices.

Potable water quality is:

Water supplied by water services providers intended to be used for drinking or domestic purposes (potable water) must be of a quality consistent with SANS 241 (Specifications for Drinking Water), as may be amended from time to time.

Metering and flow control:

All unrestricted water connections must be metered or controlled to a basic level. Where appropriate, water services providers should consider the benefits of offering households controlled flow connections (for example, yard tanks) that can provide a basic supply of water cost-effectively. Where pre-payment meters are installed, these must take into account the free basic water services policy and allow for access to a basic amount of water at zero tariff.

Eradication of bucket toilets:

The bucket system is an unsuitable and inappropriate level of service. All water services authorities must identify and implement programmes for the eradication of all bucket systems by 2006.

1.3Project development life cycle

A typical project development life cycle consists of the following phases:

Establishment of institutional arrangements
The designated municipality is the water services authority and is responsible for water services provision. The water services authority either contracts with a water services provider or fulfils that function itself.

Planning phase

The municipality:

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  prepares a Water Services Development Plan (WSDP) as part of its Integrated Development Plan (IDP) for the area of jurisdiction of the Water Services Authority (WSA);
  
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  undertakes Feasibility Studies for each water or sanitation project identified in the WSDP.
  

DWAF integrates all WSDPs into a National Reference Framework.

Design phase

The municipality procures the design consultant who designs the works and prepares the tender documentation or the municipality does it in house.

Tender stage

Advertising, site inspection, adjudication of tenders received and award of contract.

Construction phase

Execution of the works in accordance with the tender documentation under supervision

Operations and maintenance

The Water Services Provider operates and maintains the works (with or without the assistance of contractors) and collects the revenue.

The Water Services Authority (WSA) monitors the Water Services Provider (WSP) and manages the contract that it has with the WSP.
The WSA undertakes an annual water services audit and reports to DWAF who performs the function of Regulator.