SA ran out of water in 2002, and its about to get worse

South Africa’s water crisis has been like watching a slow-motion plane crash – but much more agonising, because it could have been prevented, or the effects could have been lessened had action been taken years ago.

Our dams, lakes and rivers are contaminated with sewage, litter and E. coli. People are being warned not to swim at certain beaches because of sewage inflows from rivers and some sporting events have been cancelled because of pollution in rivers or dams.

People are probably getting sick – even dying – because they only have access to polluted water. Worse, we are reaching the point where the water supply from many of our municipalities can no longer be trusted, from a health point of view.

Water expert professor Anthony Turton says we knew this was coming.

“In 2002, the National Water Strategy Document stated we were fundamentally water-constrained and predicted we will be even more water-constrained by 2025, so we have been on a slow-onset disaster since,” he said.

In the ANC government’s frenetic pursuit of “cadre deployment”, the “technically competent” people have been “purged” from the system and replaced with the incompetent, or inexperienced trainees.

However, according to Turton, it’s a “continuous misdiagnosis of the problem, because the fundamental problem is that SA ran out of water in 2002”.

He said the country should have then changed policy direction to moving towards recycling and reduction of demand.

We hope the words of Turton and other water experts are not glossed over, especially now with a good rainy season helping fill many of our dams to overflowing. Whatever benefits the rains bring, they will only be temporary, though.