Critical analysis of water-related practice and behaviour influencing water resource pollution in Poding Tse Rolo

Abstract

Providing adequate sanitation facilities to the poor is a major challenge facing developing nations such as South Africa. Increasing population pressure adds to the problem of providing sanitation in many of these countries, especially in urban areas. As a result of increased pressure on infrastructure there has been a disturbing increase in the number of poorly designed and poorly operated waterborne sewerage systems, especially in densely populated settlements in South Africa. When sanitation fails or is inadequate the impact on the health of the community and on the receiving water environment can be extremely serious. The population issue and urbanisation have placed pressure on local authorities to provide adequate sanitation facilities, and just as importantly, educating people using these facilities regarding proper maintenance and use of these facilities. The study is aimed to determine how and why the sanitation and water related practices or behaviour of Poding Tse Rolo community contributes to the sewer and manhole blockages. This community was chosen because the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) Free State region received several complaints of sanitation problems from the community members such as farmers, and individual members who are directly affected by the wastewater overflows in this area. Through discussions with some of the community members and municipal officials an interest was expressed in finding possible solutions to the above problem. The majority of people in Poding Tse Rolo are using waterborne systems that are situated in-yard (not in-house) with only a small portion of the township, still using bucket systems. The samples collected indicated that 42 percent of the breadwinners in Poding Tse Rolo are domestic workers with only 25 percent working as general workers or in government departments. Manhole blockages are due to foreign objects such as spoons, cloths and plastics. Although the findings indicated that households remove all solid materials before disposing of grey water into the drains, the drains seemed to have defective sieves and solid objects could pass through into the sewers. The community is mostly using toilet paper for anal cleaning and were aware that other types of material such as newspapers could block the toilet especially if used in large quantities. However, during the observations newspapers were found in the toilets and about 22 percent of the toilets were without any anal cleaning paper. Children between one and three years of age normally do not use the toilet because they are afraid of falling in and using too much paper. The study found that the sustainability of the waterborne system is on the borderline due to the low socio economic status of the people, the insufficient community participation at ward meetings and the lack of employment opportunities in Poding Tse Rolo.