World Water Day will be celebrated globally on 22 March – but South Africa has little to celebrate.
This is according to Harold Smook, founder of Urban Roots – Sustainable Communities Initiative and registered professional engineering technologist, who says: “We can celebrate our water policies – the most progressive policies in the world, but when it comes to implementation we have nothing to celebrate.”
Smook will be speaking about water security aspirations at African Utility Week, which is taking place in Cape Town on 14 and 15 May.
South Africa was recently 128th out of 132 countries on the Yale Centre for Environmental Law and Policy’s 2012 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) which measures a country’s performance in terms of water, air quality and overall environmental performance.
“South Africa’s poor performance is mostly because of the environmental devastation caused by the overexploitation of our limited water supply,” says Smook.
“Acid mine drainage, water system losses and pollution, lack of holistic approach to water security, poor demand management, unchecked mining activity and our continuous hunger for coal fired power plants has resulted in 84% of South Africa’s 112 unique river ecosystems being classified as threatened and a disturbing 54% critically endangered.”
Smook adds that most of South Africa’s water resources have already been allocated and water licences have been expropriated from farmers to provide water for the mining and energy sectors – especially in the Vaal River system.
“The interrelatedness of water, energy and food has to form part of any attempt to improve water security. Once water stressed conditions arise there are significant trade-offs resulting from the water-food-energy nexus.
“In South Africa the conditions of our natural ecosystems combined with the increase in coal fired power plants and increased mining activities, is an indication that government is focused on economic growth at all costs rather than the basic human needs of the people; water and food security.”
Smook emphasises that, while there are alternative sources of energy, there is no replacement for water.
“South Africa has an abundance of natural beauty, but if the rivers start dying, ecosystems are destroyed with devastating consequences.”
He also cites population growth, prosperity and pollution as the ultimate reasons for our escalating water crisis. Agriculture is the biggest national and global consumer of water and growing populations demand more food. In addition, a person rising out of poverty prefers protein based diets, which requires significantly more water to produce than carbohydrate foods.
According to Smook, R670-billion is needed over the next 10 years to service previously unserviced communities (17%), to grow and maintain the water infrastructure (34%), and to rehabilitate the existing infrastructure (49%).
However, the South African Government only has an available budget of R332-billion, which leaves a budget deficit of R342-billion rand.
A part of the solution lies in demand-side driven solutions, says Smook.
“Consumers need to realise how important it is to use only as much as we need and as efficiently as possible. Governments and business need to realise that economies cannot grow indefinitely with limited water resources. We need a paradigm shift and to start living within our planetary limits.”
Despite the water challenges, there is some reason for optimism – many of the country’s municipalities have dedicated individuals working behind the scenes to ensure that the public has 24/7 access to potable water and safely managed waste water, according to Nicolette Pombo-Van Zyl, programme manager of the water track at African Utility Week.
“It is easy to forget that water management includes the collection, transportation and treatment of millions of litres of raw sewage that must undergo due diligence in ensuring that public health is protected and that our drinking water resources remain uncontaminated,” says Pombo-Van Zyl.
There has been considerable progress in the water sector as indicated in the 2011 Census and the State of the Nation address earlier this year: nine out of 10 households have access to water; the roll out of 315 000 solar water geysers to homes that never had running hot water before; and the construction of the bulk water distribution system for the De Hoop Dam that began in October 2012, to supply water to the Greater Sekhukhune, Waterberg and Capricorn district municipalities.
This is according to Harold Smook, founder of Urban Roots – Sustainable Communities Initiative and registered professional engineering technologist, who says: “We can celebrate our water policies – the most progressive policies in the world, but when it comes to implementation we have nothing to celebrate.”
Smook will be speaking about water security aspirations at African Utility Week, which is taking place in Cape Town on 14 and 15 May.
South Africa was recently 128th out of 132 countries on the Yale Centre for Environmental Law and Policy’s 2012 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) which measures a country’s performance in terms of water, air quality and overall environmental performance.
“South Africa’s poor performance is mostly because of the environmental devastation caused by the overexploitation of our limited water supply,” says Smook.
“Acid mine drainage, water system losses and pollution, lack of holistic approach to water security, poor demand management, unchecked mining activity and our continuous hunger for coal fired power plants has resulted in 84% of South Africa’s 112 unique river ecosystems being classified as threatened and a disturbing 54% critically endangered.”
Smook adds that most of South Africa’s water resources have already been allocated and water licences have been expropriated from farmers to provide water for the mining and energy sectors – especially in the Vaal River system.
“The interrelatedness of water, energy and food has to form part of any attempt to improve water security. Once water stressed conditions arise there are significant trade-offs resulting from the water-food-energy nexus.
“In South Africa the conditions of our natural ecosystems combined with the increase in coal fired power plants and increased mining activities, is an indication that government is focused on economic growth at all costs rather than the basic human needs of the people; water and food security.”
Smook emphasises that, while there are alternative sources of energy, there is no replacement for water.
“South Africa has an abundance of natural beauty, but if the rivers start dying, ecosystems are destroyed with devastating consequences.”
He also cites population growth, prosperity and pollution as the ultimate reasons for our escalating water crisis. Agriculture is the biggest national and global consumer of water and growing populations demand more food. In addition, a person rising out of poverty prefers protein based diets, which requires significantly more water to produce than carbohydrate foods.
According to Smook, R670-billion is needed over the next 10 years to service previously unserviced communities (17%), to grow and maintain the water infrastructure (34%), and to rehabilitate the existing infrastructure (49%).
However, the South African Government only has an available budget of R332-billion, which leaves a budget deficit of R342-billion rand.
A part of the solution lies in demand-side driven solutions, says Smook.
“Consumers need to realise how important it is to use only as much as we need and as efficiently as possible. Governments and business need to realise that economies cannot grow indefinitely with limited water resources. We need a paradigm shift and to start living within our planetary limits.”
Despite the water challenges, there is some reason for optimism – many of the country’s municipalities have dedicated individuals working behind the scenes to ensure that the public has 24/7 access to potable water and safely managed waste water, according to Nicolette Pombo-Van Zyl, programme manager of the water track at African Utility Week.
“It is easy to forget that water management includes the collection, transportation and treatment of millions of litres of raw sewage that must undergo due diligence in ensuring that public health is protected and that our drinking water resources remain uncontaminated,” says Pombo-Van Zyl.
There has been considerable progress in the water sector as indicated in the 2011 Census and the State of the Nation address earlier this year: nine out of 10 households have access to water; the roll out of 315 000 solar water geysers to homes that never had running hot water before; and the construction of the bulk water distribution system for the De Hoop Dam that began in October 2012, to supply water to the Greater Sekhukhune, Waterberg and Capricorn district municipalities.