Water crisis should not be wasted, says DG

Every citizen in South Africa needs to become much more aware of the fact that ours is a water scarce country and act accordingly by conserving water in a water crisis, says Margaret-Ann Diedricks, the Director General (DG) of Water and Sanitation.

“You shouldn’t waste a crisis. When people have a lot of water they are not going to take to issues around conservation of water, the recycling of water and water harvesting. These are messages we’ve been preaching for a very long time but only when there is a real scarcity of water, will people hear the messages,” Diedricks said.

Speaking to Moneyweb on the side-lines of House of the Future – a five-day Dutch trade mission showcasing Dutch-South Africa partnerships – Diedricks noted that South Africa has a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Netherlands around issues of water and there have been a lot of “behind the scenes” workshops and skills transfer initiatives between the two countries, particularly at municipal level.

“When the drought started in KwaZulu-Natal about 18 months ago, within six months of that we were already having discussions about what are some of the ideas out there and technology we can use for mitigating the drought,” Diedricks said.

According to the DG, South Africa loses in excess of 40% of its water supply to leaks, which translates into annual losses of roughly R7 billion.

“There are some municipalities that are even beyond 40%. That very 40% could’ve helped you through this drought,” she said, adding that the department’s No Drop project seeks to harvest that 40% by declaring a “war on leaks”.

Other “quick wins” include Drop the Block, which involves literally dropping a block into a toilet cistern in order to save two litres of water per flush. “Cisterns are designed to hold nine litres of water the world over, but you don’t need that much water to get rid of your waste,” Diedricks said.

“We’d also like to roll out much more aggressively the issues around rainwater harvesting,” Diedricks said.

Having nearly “maxed out” on the number of dams we can build given the number of rivers we have, Diedricks said the department is looking at alternative mobile storage facilities. “Bear in mind that a lot of our rivers are shared water sources so you have to enter into a relationship that is mutually beneficial when it comes to your neighbours and then be able to actually conserve the water source and make sure there isn’t degradation of it,” she commented.

Speaking on Tuesday in an interactive session at House of the Future called Water Worx, Shannon Davids, quality assurance and compliance manager at the Energy and Water Sector Education and Training Authority (EW SETA), said that South Africa has insufficient catchment of rainfall.

“When we do actually have rainfall we can’t handle it and end up with floods. We tend to focus on plant level [issues] and water processing, but we need to look at catchment and how well we can harvest our rainfall,” he argued.

According to Davids, the EW SETA has been given the go ahead to develop occupational qualifications for the water sector by the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO). These will go up to the equivalent of a National Qualification Framework (NQF) Level 8 (an Honours degree), Davids said.

Professionalising the water sector

The Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA), meanwhile, has identified a need for professional process controllers. According to WISA CEO, Lester Goldman, there are only 50 professional process controllers in South Africa.

“Process controllers generally work in waste water or water recycling plants and fulfil a particularly important role in South Africa,” he said, noting that some of the issues facing the sector can be traced back to water recycling plants.

“We will be identifying other professional designations that can have impact in the sector. For example, we’d like to develop professional water engineers, as opposed to civil engineers with a specialisation in water. We want to see water economists, water accountants and a number of other professionals who are proud of the fact that they are specialising and part of the water sector,” Goldman said.

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