Where to now after indaba on water crisis?

As South Africa’s water crisis has intensified – marked by water scarcity, poor quality and unreliable infrastructure, impacting business sectors and communities – experts have pinned their hopes on the implementation of resolutions taken at last week’s two-day water indaba.

Key stakeholders at Midrand’s Gallager Estate conference said their concerns have been fuelled by previous gatherings having remained talk shops, with less done to practically implement resolutions adopted.

Water indaba objectives

Hosted by the Department of Water and Sanitation, the gathering adopted a five-point plan which included:

• Delivery and implementation models
• Increasing investment through financing options and ensuring the financial viability of the sector
• Enhancing and strengthening technical and operational capacity and efficiency
• Building partnerships through building water sensitive and resilient communities
• Fighting criminality and corruption in the water and sanitation sector

The gathering called on all water services authorities “that have not yet developed an infrastructure security strategy or plan to combat vandalism, theft of water and sanitation infrastructure, to have these in place in six months”.

The department committed to collaborate with the Special Investigating Unit, to establish a national water and sanitation anticorruption forum within six months.

More action, less talk

Nompilo Nkosi, geospatial analyst with Esri South Africa, who was among delegates, said: “The issue is that the different stakeholders do not seem to have a good strategy to communicate with each other to solve their issues.

“It is like having a car but all the parts are scattered everywhere. They just need a good project manager to assemble these parts, so that the car can run.”

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Dr Jan de Waal, University of Stellenbosch lecturer in geography, environmental and water studies, said: “South Africa faces a variety of water challenges, ranging from supply and demand management to water quality issues and access.

“In many regions, particularly urban areas, where 60% of the population resides, demand has increased substantially, which stresses a tenuous water supply system,” said De Waal.

“Managing our water resources through dry and wet seasons and interannual fluctuations between periods of drought and flooding, is also particularly challenging.

“Alarm has been raised by the low levels of the Vaal Dam at the beginning of the year, which have subsided four months later, due to heavy rainfall. “This variability should increase in the future as our climate systems become less predictable,” De Waal concluded.

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