The Western Cape Water and Sanitation Department says it plans to clear the sanitation backlog and eliminate the bucket system by 2030.
This is in line with the United Nations Millennium Sustainable Development Goals.
The department’s officials including technical teams from various municipalities are meeting in Worcester in the Cape Winelands District Municipality to launch a Provincial Sanitation Task Team.
The work of the task team includes responding to mushrooming informal settlements in the province.
Andre Van der Walt the department’s Chief Director of Sanitation Support Services explains:
“With the myriad of challenges that we have indicated in the task team the Western Cape Province is standing at about 94% in terms of access. But that needs to be looked at carefully in terms of what kind of services are provided in the informal settlements. We know that especially in the Western Cape we also have people who are living in informal settlements. We also know that here in the Western Cape there are people who are living on farms who are not being provided with the decent sanitation.”
