Teaching the value of water begins at school

TEACHING THE VALUE OF WATER

begins at school

There is a need to re-emphasise the vital importance of water demand management (Credit: DS Photography) South Africa is becoming more reliant on groundwater every day but is not adequately measuring or controlling how much is abstracted. To avoid squandering this vital but limited resource, the country will need to raise more awareness among our younger generation.

By Gert Nel*

The country’s smaller towns have long been reliant on groundwater for their survival, and ongoing urbanisation is placing growing pressure on aquifers. Clearly, access to water is a basic human right and water is an essential service that municipalities are mandated to provide – so expectations from residents are high. Many municipalities are spending considerable resources to get access to additional land where boreholes can be drilled.

The problem with this scenario is simply that it is unsustainable. Groundwater sources are limited and cannot generally be pumped without consequence. Each aquifer will have a scientifically discernible recharge rate, and the extraction rates must be commensurate if the well is not to run dry. Many aquifers are shallow and are largely dependent on frequent recharge from rain. However, the national need for groundwater is currently being pursued without sufficient regard for both the supply and demand sides of the equation.

Tracking water use

There are certainly moves afoot to better monitor the volumes of water being extracted from our aquifers, through regulations to register water users and track their usage. So far, though, the trend is for more water to be extracted without giving due consideration to sustainability. In many cases, there is a need to re-emphasise the vital importance of water demand management.

The challenge is really for communities to participate actively in ensuring sustainability in their water supply. The matter of access to water is by no means simple; there are local issues regarding inequality, affordability and wasted water from unmaintained infrastructure, and global issues such as climate change that make it increasingly difficult to predict water supply levels and recharge rates in certain aquifers.

The fact remains, though, that residents of any community need to be part of the balancing act – ensuring that the water demand does not outstrip what their area can sustainably supply. It is also clear that not much progress is being made on this front, with the institutional focus almost entirely on exploiting new groundwater sources.

Engaging communities

It needs to start with proactive awareness raising, knowledge sharing and collaboration. As far back as 2012 – and probably earlier – it was being acknowledged that waterrelated information was not really reaching communities in a way that had any impact on behaviour. In 2012, a report from the Water Research Commission noted that the way knowledge was being disseminated, particularly by government, was not encouraging individuals to question their water use practice or consider how to adapt it.

All participants in the study agreed that presenting ‘factual’ packaged information was not enough; rather, learning resources were more effective when they engaged learners with water issues as they experienced them.

“There is no shortage of water research knowledge in South Africa,” says the report. “But this knowledge is not presented in a way that is understandable to non-specialists.”

Involving schools

The authors recommend that more thought and funding be put into the dissemination of resources, with a focus on how they were

Not only is water an interesting subject for learners in primary and secondary schools, but it also governs so much of what goes on around them (Credit: Ben White)

shared and by whom. In my experience, among the most receptive institutions to this kind of learning are schools – where teachers are imparting a scientific approach to learners, and water is a topical and relevant everyday concern.

Not only is water an interesting subject for learners in primary and secondary schools, but it also governs so much of what goes on around them – from personal health and hygiene to food, farming and other economic activities. Schools could provide sciencebased input on water resources, perhaps focused on groundwater, that children could take home and share with their families. This could be a powerful channel to initiate and advance our national discussion about water.

There are many water professionals and academics who would be happy to contribute to school efforts like this and could bring their own insights and experience to share with learners. Such collaboration would help to raise awareness while also initiating valuable discussions that could lead to longer-term solutions.

Inspiring the future

At the local level, this kind of initiative could feed into broader efforts to publicise South Africa’s increasingly fragile position as a water-scarce country. Most importantly, it could create platforms for engagement and action – so that communities could participate in finding answers to waterrelated challenges.

There is another benefit that could come out of this kind of engagement: inspiring young learners to consider a career in the groundwater sector. In my experience, there are very few hydrogeologists at local or district municipality level. Water-related decisions are at best taken mainly by civil engineers, or by others with little training or experience in the water science field. If local communities could begin to nurture an interest in this vital discipline, that would certainly help to fill a serious skills gap.

Just a few years ago, I listened to a mayor of an important Eastern Cape city address a conference of water engineers and scientists. She appealed to us all to help find solutions to the region’s water needs. Among those solutions, there needs to be a more active engagement and collaboration with civil society about how water is consumed and conserved. It should start at our schools.

*Partner and principal hydrogeologist, SRK Consulting

Water knowledge practice happens locally, not at a national level. Any knowledge generated from practice on the ground should first be fed back into local practice, because that is where it belongs.”

Derick du Toit, Association for Water and Rural Development

Access to water is a basic human right and water is an essential service that municipalities are mandated to provide (Credit: Liz Martin)