The world marked Water Day this week. Sustainable Development Goal number six implores governments and communities across the world to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all people by 2030 - almost less than 11 years.
Last year Yemen, Western Sahara, Jordan, Libya and Djibouti were listed as some of the most water-scarce countries around the globe.
In South Africa, seeing areas such as Makhanda (formerly known as Grahamstown) in the Sarah Baartman Municipality declared “a state of disaster” shows how grim the situation is.
Residents in this area are currently battling with the reality of reduced dam levels and are experiencing a shortfall of 13 megalitres of water a day.
Those in Cape Town have also found themselves parched and have had to deal with the lion’s share of stringent water restrictions.
Upon learning about the predicament of those in the Mother City, I recall how some individuals in my close circle of friends - myself included - became obsessed with trying to figure out how to create water reserves in case they became necessary in the future.
Some worried that we had wasted precious time and should already have water in reserve. I’m talking about stacking bottles of water in our garages and filling up tanks with rainwater, right up to learning about the nitty-gritty of water conservation and discovering whether water has an expiry date or whether it can be kept in bottles for years on end.
But is the panic warranted? Perhaps some may ask how the situation in Makhanda reached this crisis point? Why is the government letting down the country’s most vulnerable people?
We can certainly ask who got us here and who will save us? The reality is that there is little room for blame games. Water reserves are drying up everywhere.
Water is a decider of who lives and who dies. The shifting of blame solves nothing. We live in an era where each and every one of us has a responsibility to come up with solutions, not only for our immediate needs but for future generations and for those who struggle around us.
It’s not, however, all doom and gloom. South Africa has been lauded for providing Water Scarcity Solutions by the 2030 Water Resources Group. In the report - which profiles countries such as Peru, India, China and Kenya - solutions undertaken by various sectors in the country feature a number of times.
For instance, Keidebees and Vele Langa Primary Schools in Upington get a mention for their leakage reduction system. The report maintains that the need to act was identified by the schools during an inspection (for visual leakage) of plumbing fittings in public buildings in and around the town, which spoke to the high rate of consumption levels and water bills paid by the schools.
The report highlighted that “the significance of the project” undertaken by the schools was due to its simplicity and cost-effectiveness.
This was simply schools looking to solve a pressing issue and not waiting to be rescued.
Another positive South African story to tell is that of aquatic ecologist Dr Jackie King who this week was announced as the only African scientist and the fourth woman in the world who will be awarded with the Stockholm Water Prize in August for her efforts of saving rivers and all that thrives in it.
As clichéd as it sounds, every person can play their part by doing their bit in their immediate environment to save water and find ways of conserving it. This simply means not wasting what you have. If there is any glaring truth we ought to remember, it is this one: the next world war may be fought over water and time is not on our side.
Mokati is Independent Media’s Group Development Content Editor