From 2 to 4 March CHDM management, government departments and state-owned enterprises met in Cradock to draft its strategic plan for 2016/17 period. The strategic plan is drafted to guide municipal strategies and operations in order to achieve organizational objectives in line with the Integrated Development Plan of the institution.

The Strategic session follows strategic sessions by internal municipal departments who had sat to draft their departmental strategies and how they aim to help the municipality realise its goals and objectives. After finalisation, the operational plans of the institution have to be aligned to the strategic plan. Executive Mayor Mxolisi Koyo said “this strategic session will be closely monitored by Councillors to ensure there is efficient delivery. This is something we have done since the beginning of our term and we have always intervened where warranted”.

It is important to note that this is the 4^th consecutive year that CHDM held a strategic session with a strategic plan that is linked to the term of office of the current political office bearers. The first one was literally a complete drafting of the strategic plan of the municipality. All the following annual sessions mainly deal with the modifications and report back of the plan. The macro environment which includes new policy, national priorities, legislation, political changes, economic changes to name a few influence the change in strategy.

This strategic plan took into cognisance the current national, provincial and local environment which will make it easy to draft relevant action plans.

Access to sufficient water is a right as enshrined by the constitution however it cannot be said that this right is realized if the quality of water poses health risks for human consumption. The department of Water and Sanitation (DWA) initiated the Blue drop certification programme in 2008 with the following objectives which are as follows: introducing incentive based regulation of the drinking water quality management functions, introducing key requirement for effective and efficient management of drinking water quality by water services institutions, initiating transparency on the actual drinking quality management performance of water services institutions and providing information to the public on DWQ performance per water supply system.

Chris Hani District Municipality has improved with an overall BD score of 83.4% from 73.47 achieved in 2011 and was the top achiever within the province followed by Amathole District Municipality on 80% and Joe Gqabi on 75%. CHDM is doing a significant job as the technical services are doing their best to keep infrastructure in a good condition and employing qualified personnel.  The good work that the municipality is doing has earned them a Blue Drop award in 2012.

In spite of all the vast challenges that CHDM has, as the water authority it has managed to serve its communities and ensured that the drinking water is in good quality standards that are set as the regulatory requirement.