Managing scarcity a collective task

File picture: Pexels

File picture: Pexels

Published Apr 1, 2023

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Kershni Ramreddi

Water is vital for your health and basic hygiene, yet around 2.2 billion people worldwide lack access to clean drinking water. This has demonstrated the rising need for water.

In addition to people not having access to clean water, a problem that has emerged is water scarcity. It is mostly caused by climate change, and the world’s expanding population is further taxing water supplies.

Yet, when we consider Africa, we see there is a significant threat. We encounter difficulties accessing water resources in addition to the water problems brought on by climate change.

The general public’s lack of awareness about how to preserve water is one of South Africa’s most significant water challenges. Compared to the rest of the world, South Africans use more water, consuming 234 litres of water a person a day, more than the global average of 173 litres.

In order to avert a water shortage, South Africans must learn how to conserve water which can be accomplished by using tiered pricing, in which consumers are paid when their use exceeds what is deemed required for everyday activity.

Billions of litres of sewage that has been poorly treated, as well as industrial and pharmaceutical wastes, are dumped into rivers and oceans. Fifty-six percent (56%) of the nation’s treatment facilities are in poor or critical shape. Moreover, groundwater is underutilised, particularly in the agricultural sector. We must seek to improve wastewater treatment so that South Africa’s water supply is safe for consumption.

South Africa has been dealing with a water deficit since 2015. This is primarily due to climate change, which results in rainfall delays that eventually lower dam levels and trigger countrywide droughts or excessive downpour that destroys infrastructure, agriculture, and communities.

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reaffirmed its commitment to vigorously follow through on agreed-upon activities in the new Water Action Agenda at the UN March 2023 Water Conference and welcomed the findings of the three-day meeting. Director-General QU Dongyu stated as he moderated a high-level dialogue at UN headquarters in New York: “At the critical point of the 2030 Agenda, all sectors must work together in an efficient, effective, and coherent manner to co-create, co-design, and co-advocate solutions, and to accelerate action on data and information, innovation, finance, capacity development, and governance to implement the Water Action Decade.”

Millions of litres of untreated sewage have streamed into the beaches, rivers, harbours, and oceans in and around Durban ever since devastating floods in April of last year crippled an already failing sewage and water system. Many of the city’s beaches were forced to close between April and December as a result of high concentrations of E coli, a bacterium that can cause fever, vomiting, and diarrhoea. The eThekwini municipality estimates that eight sewage treatment plants were damaged by the April floods at a total cost of R800 million.

The situation has worsened due to the expansion of informal settlements outside of the city that dump waste into rivers and streams, vandalism of devices created to collect huge solid waste, and theft of metal components from pump stations that are later sold as scrap. Water trucks and tankers were made available to communities as short-term fixes. Yet, there have been numerous cases of communities protesting service delivery as a result of shortages and water scarcity.

Umgeni Water, a state-owned water entity, said that load shedding was having an impact on the distribution of drinking water to municipalities in its service areas. The entity said that during and after load shedding, hundreds of thousands of residents in the municipalities of uMgungundlovu, Msunduzi, iLembe, Ugu, Harry Gwala, King Cetshwayo, and eThekwini were unable to access drinking water. This unfolds as the nation struggles to manage one of its biggest energy crises in years, with numerous daily power outages.

Umgeni Water expressed displeasure in a statement: “When power supply is restored, it takes at least an hour for the supply mechanisms, both in the bulk and reticulation networks, to return to full functionality. In the meantime, what little storage remains in reservoirs begin emptying out, and there is no accompanying replenishment. This leads to supply interruptions to consumers”.

When load shedding occurs, generators are employed in a lengthy, laborious process that frequently results in yields that are below the necessary volumes. South Africa will still experience a water problem in the 20 years that follow, even if it uses less water and implements all of the existing government plans. There are solutions. However, changing the situation will need a large financial commitment and political determination.

Action on a number of particular initiatives is required right away on both the supply and demand sides. Several measures can be used to boost the water supply. Municipal wastewater in South Africa is only partially treated. Before it is released downstream, much of the remaining material has not been thoroughly treated. In the agricultural industry in particular, groundwater is underutilised.

This might allow surface water to be used in other areas. South Africans need to consume less water due to the high demand for it in the country. Further water conservation incentives, such as tiered pricing, incentives for customers to buy water-saving equipment, and updated building rules are necessary in our country where water is scarce.

The nation may restore balance to its water sector by decreasing per capita use in the municipal sector, increasing the quantity of wastewater that is treated and returned to the system, utilising groundwater more extensively in agriculture, and phasing out coal-fired power plants.

The water industry in South Africa’s future is unclear. Over the next decade, nobody can predict the amount of rain that will fall. Nonetheless, it is evident that the nation is consuming more water than it has access to. Every day that goes by makes it harder and more expensive to repair the issue. A coordinated strategy for managing water is what South Africa needs, involving all three levels of government as well as civil society and individual citizens. While provincial and municipal governments can do more to minimise demand, the national government can invest in large-scale water infrastructure.

There is a persistent dilemma with access to water and sanitation in South Africa that requires attention. In addition to ensuring that households have access to water sources that provide safe drinking water, fixing our wastewater treatment, and educating people about the value of water conservation and how they can lessen the effects of climate change, we also need to enhance sanitation. All citizens will benefit from investments in water and sanitation. Although the future of water is a reason for concern, if everyone cooperates, we can discover workable solutions to the continent of Africa and South Africa’s water crisis.

World Water Crisis Facts:

• 4 billion people experience severe water scarcity for at least one month each year.

• More than 2 billion people live in countries where water supply is inadequate.

• Half of the world’s population could be living in areas facing water scarcity by as early as 2025.

• Some 700 million people could be displaced by intense water scarcity by 2030.

• By 2040, roughly 1 in 4 children worldwide will be living in areas of extremely high water stress.

*Kershni Ramreddi is an energy and just transition project officer at the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance

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