Thesis (M. Dev. (Planning and Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / The provision of basic water services delivery to all South African citizens is one of the huge challenges for the local government and it is at the coalface of service delivery. The objective of the study was to determine the factors that influence water service delivery challenges in the local municipality of Makhuduthamaga, in Sekhukhune District Municipality. The statement of the problem, therefore, provided the foundation within which the aims of the study are explained. The significance of this research cannot be over-emphasised, especially against the backdrop that local government is the third sphere of government and is in the front line of service delivery. This study aimed at investigating the water service delivery challenges in the municipality of Makhuduthamaga in Sekhukhune District, Limpopo province. This research was necessitated by the lack of water in Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality. It is evident that there are several challenges in the delivery of water services in the local sphere, however, for the sake of this research only one municipality was selected as a case study. The study employed a qualitative case study research design to collect data from participants who were selected through a purposive sampling technique. The study participants included the local community representatives and the municipal officials responsible for water services in the municipality and the water resources available in the locality such as the Vergelegen, Nkadimeng and De Hoop dams. The finding shows that the available water sources are not adequate to cater for all the residents of the municipality; hence this affects the water delivery efforts of the municipality significantly. As a result, local residents have expressed their dissatisfaction through violent service delivery protests in different wards of the municipality. The study further reveals that the municipality has been facing serious water services challenges over several years. The issue emanates from the water sources which are dried up, illegal connections, incomplete projects by contractors, financial constraints, and poor maintenance planning. The main challenge here is the lack of water sources, poor maintenance, lack of skills and expertise from the employees in the water department, insufficient budget to relieve the water crisis in the municipality and the district at large. The municipality has implemented all the interventions, such as public participation to vi encourage communities to use water sparingly, to pay for services of the municipality for the sake of revenue enhancement and have drilled more boreholes to augment the water services to the communities. This study recommends that the municipality should prioritise their budgeting and align this to the community needs, hiring the correct personnel with relevant skills and expertise in the water related function. Also, the municipality needs to work on the turnaround time for the maintenance of pump stations and fixing of leaking water pipes. They should penalise all the illegally connected households so that they can curb all the recurring illegal connections. The other issue is to improve communications with the communities with relevant stakeholders to ensure that everyone is informed in case of water cuts due to maintenance or cleaning of water reservoirs.

Bc. Pavla Matějová, Architecture and Urbanism, Department of Design V., Faculty of Architecture, Brno University of Technology 2009, 19 pages Diploma Thesis, Tutor doc. Ing. arch. Karel Havliš, Faculty of Architecture, Brno University of Technology The diploma thesis deals with an urban and architectural design of a stretch of post-industrial area along the Svitava raceway in Brno, specifically the locality in the area next to the municipal heating plant on Radlas and the former plant Mosilana in Křenová Street. The thesis main objective is to find the potential and capacity of the Svitava raceway concerning redevelopment and creation of new public areas, especially in the form of embankments designated for pedestrians. The design also focuses on redevelopment and finding new suitable functional utilization, in particular of the industrial buildings and premises of the former plant Mosilana. The theoretical part of the diploma thesis describes the urban development of the city, its history and the development of Brno region as well as rivers in its district. It examines and analyses the prerequisites of the area affecting the design. Complete description and specifications of the projected design are to be found here. The drawing part deals with the graphic analysis of the area as well as the concretization of prerequisites influencing the design and solves the complete urban design together with the designated local views of the area.

The diploma thesis deals with an urban and architectural design of a stretch of area along the Svitava raceway and the Ponávka river in Brno, specifically of the locality in the area where the Svitava raceway has already merged with the Ponávka river. The area is situated south of the city centre, in the cadastral maps of Komárov and partly Trnitá. The main objective of the thesis is to find the potential and capacity of the Svitava raceway concerning redevelopment and creation of new municipal areas, especially in the form of embankments designated for pedestrians and cyclists. The design also focuses on the redevelopment and on finding a new suitable functional utilization of the area. The theoretical part of the diploma thesis describes the urban development of the city, its history and the development of Brno region as well as of the rivers in its district. It examines and analyses the prerequisites of the area affecting the design. Complete description and specifications of the proposed design are to be found here. The drawing part deals with the graphic analysis of the area as well as the concretization of the prerequisites influencing the design and it solves the complete urban design accompanied with the detailed local views of the area.

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / The provision of clean water and water scarcity are the most critical impediments to sustainable development in municipal water supply. Adequate water supply and sanitation services are essential for health, economic development, and environmental protection. Recognizing the importance of access to a safe and adequate water supply has become the core business of many South African municipalities. Among the major challenges facing local government regarding basic service provision in South Africa are acute problems of institutional capacity, maintenance of existing infrastructure, mismanagement of funds, high levels of corruption, political interference and a lack of public anticipation. There has been public outcry in South Africa about poor performance of municipalities in service delivery. Moreover, a good proportion of service delivery protests relate to municipalities‟ “failure to carry out” the supply of “basic” services like water.” It is against this” backdrop “that the” aim of this “study” was “to investigate the” causes of” infrequent “water” supply “on the” wellbeing “of” communities “in” the Greater Tzaneen Municipality, “Limpopo province. Although local municipalities in South Africa are regarded as the providers of essential services, such as water, to date most of the municipalities still lack the capacity to provide water services to community members across the country.” Greater Tzaneen “Municipality finds it challenging to provide water services to communities within its jurisdiction. To achieve this objective, the researcher utilised a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies with a semi”- structured “questionnaire. The” study finds that the municipality is a water service provider and not as such has no authority in the provision of water to the villages. Moreover, it is found that the infrequent water supply has negative impact on the wellbeing of communities’ as water is a basic need and without it, it deprives the citizens of their dignity as enshrined in “Chapter two of the Bill of Rights of the” South African “Constitution.”

Microplastics are an emerging environmental contaminant. One of the ways microplastics can get into the environment is by the breakdown of larger plastics. These plastics can come from industrial practices, discarded fabrics, agriculture, and general plastic waste. As these plastics are broken down microplastics leach into the environment. The widespread use of plastics has resulted in the spread of microplastic contaminants all over the world. Microplastics have been reported to be in drinking water, so this paper is looking at the presence of microplastics in local communities of different demographics and socioeconomic statuses. In other studies of different drinking water contamination, minority, and low-income communities had worse quality water. In this paper, methods for sampling, extraction, and analysis with Laser Direct Infrared Spectroscopy were used. Out of Cities A, B, and C, City A, with the largest population, higher percentage of minorities, and worse off socioeconomic status, had the highest particle count. More research is needed in this field to find how socioeconomic status can affect exposure to microplastic contamination.

Thesis (M.Tech.:Civil Engineering)-Dept. of Civil Engineering and Surveying, Durban Institute of Technology, 2005 v, 124 leaves, Annexures 1-10, Appendices 1-4 / Lesotho is a land locked country, entirely surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. Maseru is the capital of Lesotho and the country’s main centre for commerce and industry. The study area is located on the North-Eastern outskirts of the Maseru urban area. The catchment occupies an area of 44km2 with a length of about 13 km and channel slope of 0.4 km/km. The Maqalika Reservoir was built in 1983 to meet the water demands for Maseru city up to 1995, and its storage capacity was 3.7 Mm3. The storage is gradually decreasing as sediment, carried by the natural run-off accumulates in the reservoir. Moreover, water pumped into the reservoir from the Caledon River (which is heavily sedimented) adds its own contribution of silt. The reservoir is located in a very densely populated area, and is heavily polluted leading to high purification costs. The study was motivated by the fact that Welbedacht Dam was constructed in 1973 in the Caledon catchment but downstream of Maqalika. After 20 years, 85% of the volume of the dam was silted. The study was intended in finding whether the positioning of the Maqalika reservoir is acceptable and to find its remaining capacity as a water body supplying a fast growing city. Consideration was also given to the effect of land use practices on the water quality of the Maqalika reservoir, including the cost incurred during purification. The water quality data on physico- chemical was collected from the Water and Sewerage Authority and was analysed using excel spreadsheets. Results obtained were compared with WHO, SABS and National Standards of Lesotho. It was found that nitrates, phosphates and faecal coliforms levels were by far above minimum standards rendering water to be very contaminated and the source being leaking sewers, defeacation in dongas and leachate from Tsosane and Lower Thamae dumping site. Iron levels were also high with mean values beyond 0.3mg/l and the source being leachate from dumping sites, poor disposal of scraps and minerals from soil. Conductivity levels were high and the suspected source is waste solid disposal having a maximum of 442mS/m in March 2001. Hardness, temperature and alkalinity do not pose much danger to Maqalika water since recorded results were almost within limits. Turbidity levels were very high and the main source was found to be catchment sedimentation through run-off. For determination of the impact of sedimentation through pumping, hydrological data was obtained from the Department of Water Affair (DWA) and analysed using Excel spreadsheets to get sediment concentrations. A linear regression graph was plotted using discharge against sediment concentration that yielded y = 0.0007x – 0.0019. This was used in the Rooseboom mathematical equation for estimation of volume occupied by sediment from 1983 - 2002 and was found to be 6789 m3. For determination of the impact due to catchment run-off, a map method of estimating sedimentation from ungauged catchments developed by Rooseboom was used and a volume of 4.598 x 106 m3 was obtained showing that the main contributor of sedimentation in the reservoir is catchment run-off. The chemical costs employed during purification were also compared between WASA and Umgeni Water of Kwazulu- Natal and WASA was found to be expensive with 9 cents/kl while Umgeni spent only 5.24 cents/kl.

Thesis (MBA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / The City of Cape Town water services is currently operating on the reactive mode and their maintenance system is not effectively and efficiently utilized. The lack of proper utilization of Physical Asset Management (PAM) has resulted in the technical department failure to meet the departmental objectives of providing planned and scheduled maintenance activities, reducing equipment downtime and ensuring planned delivery of quality spares at the appropriate time. The aim of the report is to provide guidance in the implementation of physical assets management. The report looks at different maintenance strategies available and evaluates the current operating scenarios for the department and further recommends the relevant strategy that will suit the department. Physical asset management as a maintenance program provides an effective planned and scheduled maintenance system to reduce labor and downtime. This ensures that the correct materials and parts are utilized and that the workmanship is of a high quality. A Maintenance Plan provides documented and sequenced tasks with labour and types of material required to execute the plan. Infrastructure assets are systems that serve defined operational needs, where the intention is to maintain the asset for continual use on a certain level. One of the main aspects in infrastructure network is the degree of interdependency not only within a particular asset network but also among networks. The failure of one component within a network may undermine the performance of other networks. One of the major objectives in an infrastructure network is to maintain the necessary service level through continuous maintenance while ensuring cost effectiveness The initial step is to choose certain maintenance tactics and then decide how often these tactics will be performed. The frequency of maintenance, its actions or tactics depends on the current condition of the equipment which is linked within the technical characteristics of failure and specific monitoring technique. “Regardless of the system you select, you must start from where you are and then develop an orderly series of steps to get where you want to end up, so start by assessing your current situation. The most essential ingredient in your maintenance management system is the people. An excellent system run by poorly trained or unmotivated people will be adequate at best but well trained people with positive attitudes can make an excellent system world class.”-Thomas Westerkamp

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / The World Bank (1994) concluded that there is a close relationship between infrastructure and economic growth. This also reflects on the water sector because, despite water sector importance, water services infrastructure is probably one of the most difficult to finance, while its deficiency or absence instils a particular burden on society. According to Baietti and Raymond (2005), more than 1.1 billion people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water, and approximately 2.4 billion are without adequate sanitation. Yet these estimates underestimate the gravity of the situation in relation to access gap and quality of services provided. Most consumers face situations where water services are intermittent and when available the water is not safe for consumption, while sanitation facilities are overloaded, unused or in despair. This research was conducted in the North West Province with municipalities that have the status of water services authorities. This included a combination of district and local municipalities. The North West Province has 11 water service authorities of which nine are local municipalities and two are district municipalities. The competing demands and needs for governments to provide infrastructure for other sectors such as roads and energy further aggravate the stance of finance unavailability for the water sector. The purpose of the study was to highlight the challenges that municipalities face in financing water services infrastructure. The result of the study will provide knowledge and innovative ideas that will allow South Africa‘s municipalities to address challenges of service delivery. At municipal level water services are provided through a variety of approaches, although most involve centralised systems with large supply, distribution and treatment facilities. The social benefits that water services provide are well known, particularly those that relate to public health including reduced morbidity and mortality from waterborne diseases. The challenge is that funding to meet these development objectives is either scarce or entirely unavailable. The Water Services Act 108 of (DWAF, 1997) requires water services authorities and water service providers to put significant efforts into cost recovery for sustainable provision of water services. This aspect has significant challenges which results from widespread poverty and a culture of non-payment from communities inherent as a remnant of protest against apartheid. The scope of the water sector is complex, owing to its diversity, interactions and synergies with other industrial, commercial and financial sectors, and its international nature. Under the current South African constitutional and legislative framework, municipalities will remain to be a major player in the development, financing and delivering of water services infrastructure for sustainable growth and development. Water Services Authorities (WSAs) have responsibilities including protection and management of water resources, provision of adequate and sustainable water services, operation and maintenance of water services infrastructure, monitoring and management of municipal water quality to regulatory requirements and reporting to the Department of Water Affairs (DWA) with regards to the aforementioned. Water service delivery failures at the municipal level are a widespread and fundamental problem in South Africa. At the same time, under the current decentralisation policies, the responsibility for delivering such services is increasingly being delegated to lower levels of government/municipalities that are often ill equipped for the challenge in terms of financial and human resources capacity. Cardone and Fonseca (2006) indicated public administration and financial management capacity at central and sub-sovereign levels of government as limited, and affecting the timely transfer of funding as well as the capacity of municipalities to absorb those funds. Various strategies are needed to enable municipalities to secure and finance their water services infrastructure. These include understanding what bankers are looking for, understanding where donors are going, greater involvement of the private sector, matching service levels to affordability, improving revenues and influencing the regulatory regime.

Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study focuses on the water demand of selected residential properties with access to groundwater in serviced areas of the Cape Peninsula. This winter rainfall region is typified by hot and dry summer months, corresponding to peak garden water demand. Water restrictions in the area are relatively common and primarily target outdoor use. Groundwater serves as an alternative source of water to some consumers in the area, but little is known about the extent of such use and the impact thereof on potable water demand. A major part of the area is underlain by a primary, unconfined aquifer that has been reported to have high exploitation potential. Its unconsolidated sand and shallow water table provides ideal conditions for small scale groundwater abstraction. Several owners of properties situated above the aquifer unit have capitalised on this and utilise groundwater as an alternative to potable water, mostly for garden irrigation purposes. The main objective of this research was to investigate the average extent of the expected reduction in average annual municipal water demand due to private groundwater use at the selected properties in the study area. The methodology involved abstracting data from the City of Cape Town’s registration process for the private use of non-potable water. The data was recorded between 2000 and 2006 and was available only in hard copy format. The registration data was used to identify residential properties with access to private groundwater sources, based on the physical addresses recorded on the registration forms. The rate of groundwater abstraction was not recorded during the registration process, nor was any of the properties spatially referenced. The data set contained information for 4 487 properties, of which 3 764 could ultimately be used in the analysis. Data from a recent hydro-census in Hermanus (which was done by others prior to this study) was used to test the intended research method first. This trial investigation involved only 114 properties and was used to streamline the proposed methodology for application on the full-scale analysis of the City of Cape Town data. Each address was captured electronically, verified manually and filtered to extract only those representing residential properties for which groundwater use was registered. In order to identify the properties spatially, the addresses had to be converted to coordinates through a procedure called geocoding, so as to plot each spatially and obtain the attributes such as stand size, position and the unique Surveyor General’s code. This was necessary in order to link the addresses to the municipal treasury system and obtain their latest available water consumption records using a commercial software package that incorporates consumer information. Next the actual annual water consumption figures were compared with recently published water demand guidelines based on stand size as single explanatory variable. The selected residential stands were divided into pre-defined stand size categories. The average water consumption of all the stands in each size category was calculated and compared with the suggested water demand as per the guidelines used, based on the centre value of the size range of each category. The results of the comparative analysis confirm findings from two earlier studies where lower municipal water use was reported for residential properties with access to groundwater in a summer rainfall region. The results further showed that the mean average annual potable water demand of consumers in the study area with access to groundwater was on average 31.4% lower than those considered without such access in the same region. This represents an average reduction of 333 l/stand/day (about 10 kl/stand/month) in the potable water demand of the selected residential stands. This study therefore confirms that serviced residential stands with access to private groundwater sources in the Cape Peninsula have lower average metered water consumption from the municipal supply system. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie fokus op die water anvraag van geselekteerde residensiële erwe met toegang tot grondwater in gedienste woongebiede van die Kaapse Skiereiland. Die gebied is ‘n winterreënvalstreek, met warm, droë somermaande wat saamval met piek water aanvraag vir tuinbou. Waterbeperkings in die area is relatief algemeen, veral op die buitegebruik van water. Grondwater dien as alternatiewe bron vir sommige verbruikers, maar kennis oor die omvang van sulke gebruik, sowel as die impak wat dit het op die aanvraag na drinkbare water is beperk. Die grootste deel van die gebied ter sprake is geleë bo ‘n onbegrensde hoof waterdraer, met berigte hoë ontginningspotensiaal. Die ongekonsolideerde sand en hoë watertafel is ideal vir kleinskaalse grondwateronttrekking. Heelwat van die eienaars van grond wat bo hierdie akwafeer geleë is het die situasie uitgebuit en gebruik grondwater as alternatief vir drinkwater, veral vir tuinbesproeiïng. Die hoofdoel van hierdie navorsing was om die gemiddelde omvang van die verwagte vermindering in gemiddelde jaarlikse munisipale wateraanvraag weens die privaat gebruik van grondwater by die geselekteerde erwe in die studiegebied te ondersoek. Die metodiek het die onttrekking van data uit die Stad Kaapstad se registrasieproses vir die privaat gebruik van nie-drinkbare water behels. Hierdie data, wat tussen 2000 en 2006 vasgelê is, was slegs in harde kopie formaat beskikbaar. Die registrasie data is gebruik om woonerwe te identifiseer met toegang tot privaat grondwater bronne, volgens die fisiese adres verskaf op die registrasie vorms. Die tempo van grondwater onttrekking was nie opgeneem gedurende die registrasie proses nie, so ook nie ruimtelike aanwysings na die ligging van die eiendomme nie. Die datastel het inligting bevat oor 4 487 eiendomme, waarvan 3 764 uiteindelik bruikbaar was in die analise. Data van ‘n onlangse hidro-sensus in Hermanus (wat deur ander gedoen is voor die aanvang van hierdie studie) is gebruik om die beoogde navorsingsmetodiek eers te toets. Die toetsondersoek het slegs 114 eiendomme behels, en is gebruik om die voorgestelde metodologie meer vaartbelyn te maak voor toepassing op die volskaalse analise van die Stad Kaapstad data. Elke adres is elektronies vasgevang, met die hand geverifiëer, en dan gefilter om slegs die residensiele eiendomme waarvoor grondwater gebruik geregistreer is, te behou. Om die ruimtelike verwysing van die eiendomme verder te kon indentifiseer, moes die adresse omskep word in koördinate om sodoende die erwe te kon posisioneer en die erfgrootte, posisie en die unieke Landmeter Generaal kode van elke erf te verkry. Dit was nodig sodat die adresse aan die munisipale stelsel gekoppel kon word om sodoende die jongste beskikbare waterverbruik rekords te verkry deur gebruik te maak van ‘n kommersiële sagteware pakket wat verbruikers-inligting inkorporeer. Hierna is die werklike jaarlikse waterverbruik syfers vergelyk met onlangs gepubliseerde wateraanvraag riglyne, gebaseer op erfgrootte as enkel verklarende veranderlike. Die geselekteerde woonerwe is toe in voorafgekose kategorië verdeel volgens erfgrootte. Die gemiddelde waterverbruik van al die erwe binne elke grootte-kategorie is bereken en vergelyk met die voorgestelde wateraanvraag volgens die riglyne, gebaseer op die middelpuntwaarde van die grootte strekking van elke kategorie. Die resultate van die vergelykende analise staaf die bevindinge van twee vroeër studies wat laer munisipale watervebruik rapporteer vir residensiële eiendomme met toegang tot grondwater in ‘n somerreënvalgebied. Die resultate wys ook dat die gemiddelde jaarlikse drinkbare water aanvraag van verbruikers in die studiegebied wie toegang het tot grondwater, gemiddeld 31.4% laer is as dit van verbruikers wie beskou word sonder sulke toegang in dieselfde streek. Dit verteenwoordig ‘n gemiddelde vermindering van 333 l/erf/dag (rondom 10 kl/erf/maand) in die aanvraag na drinkbare water van die geselekteerde woonerwe. Hierdie studie bevestig dus dat gedienste residensiële erwe met toegang tot privaat grondwater bronne in die Kaapse Skiereiland laer gemiddelde gemeette waterverbruik vanuit die munisipale toevoerstelsel het.

NCRP report No.160 states that medical exposure increased to nearly half of the total radiation exposure of the U.S. population from all sources in 2006 (NCRP 2009). Part of this increase in exposure is due to the rise in nuclear medicine procedures. With this observed growth in medical radionuclide usage, there is an increase in the radionuclide being released into wastewater after the medical procedures. The question then arises: what is the behavior of medical radionuclides and their impurities in the wastewater process? It is important to note that, often, medical radionuclides are not exactly 100% radionuclide pure, but they meet a certain standard of purity. Of particular interest are the longer lived impurities associated with these medical radionuclides. The longer lived impurities have a higher chance of reaching the environment. The goal of this study is to identify the behavior of medical radionuclides and their impurities associated with some of the more common radiopharmaceuticals, including Tc-99m and I-131, and locate and quantify levels of these impurities in municipal wastewater and develop a model that can be used to estimate potential dose and risk to the public. / Graduation date: 2012 / Access restricted to the OSU Community at author's request from May 24, 2012 - May 24, 2014