Wastewater kills
T
he UN’s theme for World Water Day,
carried throughout the year and
supported by the Department of Water
and Sanitation, is wastewater.
Wastewater is any water that has
been adversely affected in quality by
a variety of factors, such as sewage,
stormwater, agricultural activities, and
run-off from surface and sewer inflow.
The point being that all the
wastewater finds its way into the right
places and, sadly, due to lack of skills
and training, into places that create a
potential health risk to humans.
Many bodies are discussing water and
all other aspects associated with water
saving and water loss, and a water event
of some sort is probably taking places on
every square metre of South Africa and
elsewhere.
Towards the end of an event recently
attended, a delegate asked, “When will
we stop talking and start walking
the talk?”
A fair question, especially when
80% of the world’s water is untreated
and killing over 800 000 people each
year. The UN World Water Assessment
Programme notes that, “About 360 000
children worldwide die annually when
consuming dirty water.”
We do not knock the efforts of those
attempting to resolve the water wastage
and wastewater issue, but does it not
make sense to have some coordination
so we all work to the same goal and pool
resources?
Rivers and dams are polluted,
requiring expensive processes to clean
them — an unnecessary expense when
such pollution should never have
happened in the first place.
However, the theme of wastewater must
be highlighted, not only for 2017/18 until
the next World Water Day takes places
on 22 March, but now.
In this issue of Water, Sewage &
Effluent, we publish the first part of a
Water Research Commission guideline to
monitoring for municipalities.
We continue our series on the
National Water Resource Strategy 2,
which focuses on water reuse. Also, Dr
Tally Palmer from the Institute for Water
Research provides good insight into
household water around the country.
In our networking features, we provide
a pictorial overview of the Engineering
Ideas seminar together with four of the
six scholarship beneficiaries, and then
look at what happened at the Unesco
IHP symposium.
Finally, we introduce Kim Kemp as
the new editor of Water, Sewage
& Effluent. Kim joins us with a
solid journalistic background in
the built environment, both locally
and beyond South Africa. Contact
Kim on +27 (0) 11 579 4940 or at
[email protected] — she
would love to hear from you. u
Rory
Rory Macnamara | Editor
Water Sewage & Effluent May/June 2017
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