What is the WISA hidden agenda with the new package plants?

WISA says the new policy will help by improving Water quality and compliance within the private package plant industry -

What they are telling us -

While official documents state that recent South African wastewater regulations for privately owned package plants are aimed at improving water quality and environmental protection, some stakeholders believe there may be unstated, or "hidden" agendas driven by market control and compliance challenges.

Officially stated agenda: Improved compliance

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and the Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA) cite the following as reasons for tightening regulations: 

• Addressing poor performance: A 2023 study found that the majority of small to medium-sized wastewater treatment plants in South Africa, including many package plants, did not comply with regulatory standards.
• Enhancing oversight: The new rules, including Regulations 3630, are designed to create a clear accountability framework for the private sector. The regulations mandate that private package plant operators must:
• Obtain a classification certificate from the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).
• Appoint a registered Professional Process Controller to supervise the plant.
• Have qualified process controllers on duty for every shift.
• Protecting public health: Enforcing stricter oversight and competence requirements is intended to prevent non-compliance that could lead to waterborne diseases and wider environmental damage. 

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Criticisms and hidden agendas

Despite the official justification, some industry players and critics suggest the regulations serve additional, unstated objectives:

Consolidating the industry and eliminating smaller competitors

• Excluding smaller businesses: Stricter staffing requirements and classification standards are viewed by some as an intentional move to raise the barriers to entry for smaller or emerging package plant suppliers and operators.
• Favoring larger players: Larger companies with more capital are better equipped to absorb the costs of hiring and retaining registered professionals. This can lead to market consolidation, pushing out smaller competitors who lack the financial resources to comply. Larger companies would be more likely to have top level BEE compliance, and therefore be favoured.
  

Creating market opportunities for connected players

• Promoting WISA membership: The regulations designate WISA as the "sole custodian" of the Professional Process Controller designation, which is required for plant supervision. This gives WISA a virtual monopoly over the certification process, which critics argue creates a lucrative, protected market for the institute and its members.
• Generating revenue: Critics allege the new regulations create a reliable revenue stream from the registration and compliance fees imposed on package plant owners. 

Shifting compliance responsibility

• Transferring blame for water issues: Given the widespread failures in municipal wastewater treatment, some critics suggest the DWS is shifting the regulatory focus and blame onto private operators to deflect attention from its own mismanagement of public infrastructure.
• Pushing enforcement costs to the private sector: The new regulations transfer some costs of monitoring, certification, and staffing from government entities to private companies. 

Implications for package plant owners irrespective of size / capacity

Regardless of the potential motivations, the new regulations have significant and immediate implications for owners and operators:

• Increased operating costs: Owners must budget for hiring and training qualified staff and paying for third-party inspections and compliance services.
• Risk of legal action: Failure to comply with staffing and reporting mandates by the deadlines (such as June 30, 2025) can lead to severe fines, legal action, and potential plant shutdown.
• Need for capital investment: Companies / owners may need to invest in upgrading their systems to meet the higher standards and ensure reliable operation.
• Exit of the specialists / small players: The heightened costs and complexity may force smaller operators to sell their businesses or exit the market, reducing competition and innovation in the sector. 

And then - The lonely ones

One must remember that there are countless single house systems throughout the country, and none of these will escape the WISA 3630 ruling. So, lets see what is expected of these lonely ones.

There must be a qualified / WISA accredited "technician", per shift, and there would be 3 shifts per day (monitored 24 hours). These people would need to be employed by the owner, therefore accommodated on the property (remember this is in someones back yard, right?) The property owners would need to provide these technicians with some laboratory equipment and chemicals, tools of the trade for water tests, air-conditioned rooms, power supply and don't forget, the free lunches and full shower facilities. Medical aid and pension benefits, transport allowance, 30 days paternity leave, and overtime for Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. . . .

.... and there will be 3 people per day, at least.

I won't go on any further - this is ridiculous. It's absurd. Who thought up this dumb idea? Even Water Research Council (WRC) said  "requirements such as SETA approved training for operators are simply not affordable as the training is onerous both in terms of cost and time." 

I will, however, note that Bill Gates funded this policy research, the same guy that didn't bring you Microsoft Windows, but brought you useless urine diversion toilets in Durban's Inanda township, Covid vaccines, Little St James Island fame, oh, and that other useless product "reinventing the toilet winner - Cranford University".

Our stance on the WISA 3630 policy.

It won't work. It is thoughtless of any real intended accomplishments. All our systems already have unique specialist operators, who don't need training, air-conditioned offices and lunch breaks. They work 24 hours a day, and still manage to clean up the water successfully. They don't argue, fight, complain, or even get tired. They raise their families on site, and don't take up much space. These workers don't cry about the weather, working on weekends or during Christmas holidays. All they really ask is a little food, water and some fresh air.  And some respect.

These active ingredients - our brave Biomass - are the only creatures that can clean up human waste, and have been doing it longer than man (and WISA) have been on earth.

So, WISA, please stop pretending that they need your respect. They don't.

Public v Private plants

It is noted that the poor performance of the municipal WWTW does not have this focus, and many have failed miserably. These are usually mega-litre per day systems and their impact on the environment is nothing short of catastrophe, so much so that the Dept of Water & Sanitation decided that no more load can be added, on any failed wastewater works. DWS have specifically instructed that any excess loading on the systems, will be handled by private package plants.

Does anyone else see the hidden agenda?

Spam Magnet

Since the WISA 3630 policy, we are inundated with requests for employment. Every one with the WISA qualifications are currently unemployed, looking for work.They are clogging our spam folder.

And we remind you that WISA also brought us another fiasco - the Sewage Treatment Package Plant Shebeen - SEWPACKSA.

Clean Hands

I have asked several key players, well informed on the water /wastewater industry, about the WISA 3630 rules, and they said they didn't know anything about it. Should this be the case, WISA are not honest brokers and cannot present themselves with clean hands.

Those players in this industry, who have welcomed the DWS decision to lift the ban on package plants in traditional municipal areas, will be in for a nasty surprise when they find out about the 3630 rule. We ask them - do your clients know about 3630? If not, when will you tell them?

And so, you may ask, how did we find out about it before anyone else?

We know stuff. And it stinks.

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