Swartland Municipality has been recognised as one of the best municipalities in South Africa by the National Department of Water and Sanitation. The municipality received the overall third place in the National Green Drop Report category for best performing municipality overall in South Africa. Their Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) site in the Riebeek Valley also received the best technical site assessment score in the country with 97%.
In 2013 Swartland’s overall performance was scored 72%. In the newest report, their overall performance has improved to 89%.
According to a municipal spokesperson, this improvement is the result of years of hard work and investment in infrastructure services.
“Wastewater treatment facilities are part of the backbone of essential basic services municipalities are responsible for. The proper functioning, planning, upgrading and maintenance of these services are therefore critical. If this is not in place, it could result in service delivery failure on a catastrophic level as we see almost daily in other municipalities in South Africa, where raw sewerage is polluting rivers, and towns.”
Since 2013, the Swartland Municipality has built new WWTW facilities in Malmesbury and in the Riebeek Valley. New facilities are currently being constructed in Moorreesburg (expected completion mid 2023) and Darling (expected completion end of 2022).
Once all these projects are completed, the municipality will have invested approximately R342 million into their wastewater infrastructure over the past 10 years, from 2013 to 2023.
“This brings us within reaching distance of obtaining green drop certification status.”
Green drop status is awarded to facilities and municipalities with an overall score of 90% or more.
“Our goal is to reach and maintain green drop status within the next 2 years. It is our commitment to excellent service delivery to all our residents.”
“Ensuring sufficient bulk services, like WWTW, is essential for environmental health and safety and economic growth. Investors are looking for municipalities that can accommodate growth and support its investments with adequate infrastructure and service delivery. That is why Swartland is considered as a secure investment opportunity for investors. We provide quality services to all, and we invest and maintain these services to make sure that we create new opportunities as we grow,” says Executive Mayor, Harold Cleophas.