Dry taps in Joburg just latest symptoms of SA’s water crisis

Dry taps in Joburg and Tshwane are just the latest symptoms of South Africa’s water crisis. Gift of the Givers says the crisis extends from the Karoo to the coast, and that demand for the boreholes it drills for parched communities has seldom been higher.

Cape Town’s 2015-18 drought reduced dam levels to below 20% and gave SA the term “day zero”. Severe water restrictions contained the crisis and good rains ended it, but Cape Town’s water consumption has gradually returned to pre-drought levels and this summer exceeded them for the first time.

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Farmers in central parts of SA are contending with a drought that has caused significant damage to their crops and destroyed hopes of a record harvest. The weather continues to behave unpredictably as climate change undermines our understanding of meteorology.

In short, water is no longer something we can take for granted and SA isn’t alone in having to face this reality. Unicef says one in three children worldwide live in areas exposed to high water scarcity. WWF says at the current consumption rate, the situation will only get worse.

Add accelerating climate change to the mix and the outlook is deeply troubling. So, what can we do? In the words of academic water experts, Richard Meissner and Anja du Plessis, writing in The Conversation, “the key for water security will be for … South Africans to become more knowledgeable and improve on the overall management of the country’s water resources”.

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At the heart of this approach lies the need for a deeper understanding of the value of water, leading to behavioural change. Cape Town showed what was possible when the city halved its water consumption to head off day zero.

Water pressure was reduced, tariffs rose, showers shortened, gardens withered, but the city survived and turned its attention to ensuring such a scenario will never be repeated. Individuals, businesses and institutions are doing the same – and not just in the rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, where water tanks have long been a prominent feature of the landscape.

Today, urban consumers are taking charge of their own water security by installing rainwater-harvesting tanks.

Many are going further and adding pumps and filtration systems so they have a full back-up system in case their municipal water supply fails. It’s very much in the tradition of ’n boer maak ’n plan (a farmer makes a plan), a phrase that epitomises the resilience of South Africans and their ability to harness ingenuity, creativity and improvisation to find solutions to their problems.

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There’s no end to the plan-making on a farm, so it’s no surprise that JoJo can trace its roots to a farmer, Jan Joubert, experimenting with cooking plastic in his kitchen and going on to pioneer rotational moulding of large plastic containers.

Innovation runs through JoJo’s DNA to this day and our research and development department is focused not only on solving consumers’ problems but on deepening South Africans’ relationship with water – the precursor to the behaviour change that will deliver water security.

Our new tank level device is a good example. Using Internet of Things technology, it links to a mobile app which, in its latest version, can produce a water usage report that’s comprehensive enough for a listed company’s environmental, social and governance report.

By understanding our water usage, we can manage it more effectively. It’s like a relationship with another person. The better we understand them, the more enjoyable, productive and sustainable the interactions become.

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JoJo took its relationship with water to the next level a couple of years ago by buying a company focused on the next step in the journey, when water becomes waste.

Calcamite offers cutting-edge and ecofriendly wastewater solutions, allowing customers to manage, recycle and dispose of wastewater efficiently, safely and in an environmentally conscious way.

In encouraging people to look differently at water, we thought it was essential to look beyond harvesting, storage and use to the next stage in the life cycle of this precious resource. In part, that’s because SA also has a wastewater crisis.

The 2022 Green Drop report found that 334 wastewater treatment works were in a critical state, with many more needing major corrective action.

Calcamite’s range of products allows customers to extend their stewardship of water and play part in protecting the environment from wastewater pollution. Solutions come in simpler forms, too.

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A more thoughtful relationship with water can mean monitoring daily use, planting drought-resistant plants, watering the garden early in the morning to minimise evaporation, and being mindful of what goes down the drain (chemicals and medications can contaminate water sources).

-Badenhorst is executive of sales and marketing for JoJo