Ignore the water crisis at your peril
While the maintenance and development of infrastructure are essential elements of addressing South Africa’ s water scarcity issues, changing peoples’ attitude to water usage and effectively managing the demand for water are equally critical, writes Sean Molloy, general manager of Integrated Infrastructure Services at GIBB Engineering & Architecture.
The preservation and efficient management of water have received increased priority by governments and corporate players globally. In South Africa, the drought crisis has highlighted the urgent need to conserve and manage water more effectively.
The Water Research Commission predicts that South Africa will demand 17 % more water by the year 2030. The country’ s water supplies are almost fully allocated, making it difficult for new enterprises to access water licences and placing a dampener on future economic growth.
Currently, up to 50 % of water supplied to South African cities cannot be accounted for. This varies from between 30 % and 50 % in the metropolitan areas and between 40 % and 60 % in the smaller municipalities, amounting to an annual loss of about R7-billion worth of water, as indicated in government’ s Nine-Point Plan.
This unaccounted water usage is largely because of water leaks and unmetered water usage.
According to the Water Research Commission, while South Africa’ s post-1994 water legislation has been heralded as pioneering, there have been challenges in implementation. This is largely due to legacy issues because of outdated water laws, as well as the growing demands on South Africa’ s existing water resources, intensified by population growth, rapid urbanisation, economic development, and increased demand for higher levels of service.
Solutions to South Africa’ s water crisis exist, but they require committed collaboration between government and the private sector. The strategy needs to be two-pronged: firstly, to reduce public demand for water, and secondly, to conserve the water already in the system.
Reduce public demand for water
Reducing public demand for water requires increasing the price for excessive water usage and educating the public on water-saving techniques. While government has introduced initiatives to instil a water-saving mindset among South Africans, this does not seem to have had the desired outcome and efforts need to be redoubled, preferably with the help of the private sector.
South Africa could look to Botswana’ s Project Somarela Thothi for a workable public-private partnership( PPP) model. The programme was initiated in March 2015 to reduce water losses during Gaborone’ s worst drought in 32 years.
A partnership was formed between the German Development Corporation( GIZ), the Water Utilities Corporation, and First National Bank Botswana Foundation, with the aim of reducing water demand by implementing social and technical water loss reduction initiatives.
The social aspect focused on creating awareness around conserving water through promotional material, school awareness programmes, and outreach initiatives, while the technical aspect focused on bulk metering and sectorisation to assess leakage and the potential for pressure management.
Conserve water in the system
The technical measures form part of the second prong of an effective water conservation and demand management strategy, that is, to focus on the conservation of water already in the system.
Leaks occur in the bulk and internal water distribution systems, as well as water systems on private properties. One of the most effective ways to reduce leaks is to reduce the overall pressure within the network and conduct a leak detection and repair programme of the water distribution system.
In addition, it makes economic sense to repair leaks within households. Many households do not have the means or expertise to maintain their housing water system. There are successful examples of initiatives to address this, which also create multiple employment opportunities.
One such initiative by government was the training of 15 000 artisans and plumbers to repair leaking taps in their communities, with the first intake of 3 000 trainees recruited in the 2015 / 16 financial year.
Q & A
Water, Sewage and Effluent asked Sean Molloy( SM) to comment on a few questions.
The reference to the War on Leaks Programme was spectacularly unsuccessful as the‘ trained’ repairers were untrained and ill-equipped, resulting in very little saving; in fact, the average loss of revenue from water loss increased from 52 % to 58 %.
20 Water Sewage & Effluent July / August 2017