INDUSTRY OVERVIEW
Kingswood Golf Estate
But it gets even more complicated . At the height of Cape Town ’ s drought , for example , it was difficult for municipalities to control and limit the use of ground water . People would gaily say , ‘ it ’ s okay , it ’ s borehole water ,’ believing that this meant it was somehow magically not part of the water that needed to be rationed . It was ‘ free ’, and it came out of the ground in their garden , so they were entitled to it .
But water , as water strategist Anthony Turton explains , ‘ is not a stock but a flux ; it is both finite and infinite .’ What this means is that all water – whether from a stream , a borehole , or from the municipality in your taps – is part of the same resource . And groundwater is part of that flux .
Groundwater is a renewable resource – in the same way that water in a river is a renewable resource . It ’ s renewable only if it is extracted at a rate that matches its replenishment . So , if everyone decides they are going to use borehole water instead of municipal water , there is a very real chance that groundwater reserves will be depleted – a classic ToC problem . And , like all ToC problems , it is caused by those who obtain unfair benefit , and who may well survive long term because of the advantage they have built up , and the victims are those who have not overutilised the resource .
PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS So what does all this mean in terms of day-to-day living ? Well , as resident or manager of an estate , you may have all kinds of commons – parking , peace and quiet , dog poo-free public space , flowerbeds . It ’ s unlikely to be a problem if , for example , one or two residents pick flowers from communal gardens to put in a vase in their homes . But what if their neighbours think : ‘ If they can , so can I ’? You can see where this is heading .
In fact , managing an estate is largely about managing commons . Some commons , such as the flowers and parking spaces , are obvious . But some are less obvious , such as freedom from pollution – light pollution , noise pollution , smoke pollution , litter , and more . It ’ s a delicate balance , because living in an estate is all about community , and community is all about managing commons .
But don ’ t let the pessimism of Lloyd , and the racist elitism of Hardin , get you down . The 2009 Nobel Prize for Economics was awarded to ( the now late ) Elinor Ostrom for her research showing how communities can and do successfully manage common property . This is probably not news to managers of successful estates , who have been doing this for years , but we ’ ve had enough bad news , so it ’ s nice to see this kind of thinking acknowledged and rewarded . estate-living . co . za
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