Water resource management : an analysis of operations and maintenance activities of an informal settlement

M.Ing. (Engineering Management)Abstract: This research, studied water resource management by investigating and analysing operations and maintenance activities of an urban informal settlement in South-Africa. Water has been identified as being one of the top global risks. This can develop into a global crisis, if no understanding from current informal settlements can be generated to verify the effectiveness of the current water policies and frameworks (water governance). Informal settlements are growing at an alarming rate within urban areas due to a housing need. Local governments should however, provide water and sufficient services delivery that is enshrined within the Constitution of South-Africa. If growth of informal settlements is left at current uncontrollable levels, which will negatively impact the water services provision and will also affect the operations and maintenance. This then could be the onslaught of the water crisis within South-Africa. Water resource management would be under stress and local governments should put measures in place now to change the current water governance approach within informal settlements. Therefore, the global perception still exists that service delivery within informal settlements are inadequate and the research endeavour to see if this is still valid. The research was designed as a case study of an urban South-African informal settlement to understand water resource management via operations and maintenance activities. The study investigated the operations and maintenance activities recorded from 2010 to 2019. The approach for the study was to develop the research questions, to collect the data, verify the data set, categorise the data and last to analysis the data. Within this case study only secondary data was used to be verified with literature, which brought forth some new discoveries. The results definitely change the current perception, which states that the metropolitan municipality provides adequate basic water services within the urban informal settlement, albeit that there still are a host of challenges. Local governments can benefit from this research study to best understand the operations and maintenance activities and therefore provide an adequate level of service in terms of water provision. This study showcases the different levels of services provision which municipalities can use to improve the water resource management and improve governance of water within informal settlements. Therefore, the metropolitan municipality should communicate effectively these type statistics to the inhabitants and the public