Water shortage is the next disaster

We’ve seen this horror movie before. Then it was called Eskom. The sequel looks like it is already in production and we’ve seen the trailers. This one’s called Water Supply.

It is not being overly dramatic to say that South Africa could be staring down the barrel of another disaster, which will be even worse than what has happened to our electricity because you can’t conjure up water like you can order solar panels to keep the lights on.

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Experts have been warning for at least the past two decades that SA has been living in a dream world when it comes to the supply of water. This is a dry part of the world, overall, although there are some exceptions.

There is a finite supply of water, which is probably not top of mind at the moment for most people in SA after the higher than average rainfall due to the La Niña weather phenomenon. But it will not always be so.

Predictions are that we could be entering an El Niño period of drier weather and even drought – and, of course, there is our ever-increasing population putting more pressure on our water resources.

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Those are the natural factors behind our looming water crisis – but it is the human ones that are making matters worse.

Firstly, our individual consumption is too high and those of us who are used to plentiful and cheap water for our gardens and swimming pools should realise those days are ending.

But that we already have water shortages even when our dams are full shows the damage done by the ANC’s incompetence and looting, which has seen water infrastructure maintenance neglected and replacement deferred. Water security prospects are as bleak as tumbleweeds blowing across a parched, hot desert.

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