MBOMBELA – As the nation commemorates National Water Week from March 20 to 26, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) called on citizens to fully understand the significance of water and to prioritize water conservation both this week and beyond.
Silulumanzi, in collaboration with stakeholders, including DWS, City of Mbombela, provincial education department, among others, hosted the National Water Week’s various activities at the Lowveld Botanical Gardens on Tuesday, 25 March 2025.
The primary goal of the National Water Week campaign is to inform communities about the critical importance of water conservation and to highlight the necessity of safeguarding the quality of water resources.
Eight primary schools from different communities within the Lowveld participated in the activities, exhibiting and presenting their projects about water conservation before a panel of judges.
Richmond Jele, the public relations manager at Silulumanzi spoke of the importance of engaging learners in initiatives of this nature, stating that they contribute to the goal of raising awareness in communities.
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“We note that we live in an era where there is more water scarcity and our water sources are getting polluted everyday. We have taken this initiative to start educating our youngsters from an early age to become good ambassadors of water conservation and the conservation of the environment in general and to act as responsible citizens so that in the future, what they gave before, is something that their children and grandchildren will be proud of.”
The DWS provincial head, Dudu Sifunda, outlined the department’s efforts in developing the water sector to ensure water supply to all citizens.
“We are responsible for the dams and management of the water resources. We also support municipalities because for them to be able to deliver on their mandate, they need the support. We do support them through the grants, Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant because for the community to get water, they need the Infrastructure to be on the ground.
“We also support them through the Water Services Infrastructure Grant, so on yearly basis as a department, we allocate funds to these municipalities so that they can implement projects to assist in delivering water to the communities.”
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Sifunda emphasized that additional efforts are necessary within the province regarding the responsibilities of municipalities in mitigating river pollution to achieve a sustainable water balance stating.
“The issues of water quality in the province, is a challenge, but most of the time you find that like in Msukaligwa, there are mines around there and some of them have been abandoned and most of them you find them polluting the water resource because they are no longer in use.
“However, in our department, we have the Water Act, where we regulate these mines. We do inspections, compliance, monitoring and issue directives for them as you know there are municipalities that we have taken to court because of the pollution that is occurring.
The learners shared tips on how to save water, including turning off taps when not in use, to take shorter showers, to re-use water, and to fix all water leakages.
VIDEOS: Local schools presenting their projects
They trust that these tips will assist communities in playing a part to conserve water supplies. They were also presented with prizes for their outstanding performances in different categories.
