Chair’s comment

– can we do more with less?

If there is one new year’s resolution that every government body, business and South African needs to make, it’s to use water efficiently. By Dan Naidoo, chairman, WISA

The 2018 National Water and Sanitation Master Plan identified a water supply deficit of 17% by 2030. Despite this, South Africans use more water than the global average – 234 litres per person daily – which means the country’s per capita water consumption is higher than the global average of 173 litres.

With a lack of funding to boost supply, minimal to zero water tariff increases and a growing need for water subsidies for the indigent, the efficient use of water must be a priority. It is nonsensical to invest in increasing water supply when we are not using water efficiently. We need to make the average South African understand that we cannot provide more water without everyone using water they already have access to sparingly.

Managing demand, reducing water losses and decreasing non-revenue water is a mantra that water professionals have been singing to politicians for many years. Due to the inefficient use of water, South Africa has to constantly direct funds (that we don’t have) to the upgrading of pipelines, water and wastewater plants, and dams.

Demand

Based on rising populations, economic growth projections and current efficiency levels, demand for water in South Africa is expected to rise by 17.7 billion m³ in 2030, while water supply is projected to amount to 15 billion m³.

The word ‘demand’ needs to be unpacked. Is that demand realistic? Should we be chasing that demand as a target? Or should we be debating it? Can we do more with less?

We need to consider water’s circular economy and its entire value chain. We need to look around wastewater as a resource; we need to go back to the basics. A circular economy offers an opportunity to recognise and capture the full value of water – as a service, an input to processes, a source of energy, and a carrier of nutrients and other materials.

Collaboration is needed

There must be a joint effort in managing water losses and fixing infrastructure.

What quick gains can we achieve when focusing on the efficient use of water? Agriculture uses more than 60% of our water resources. Looking at places like Australia and much of the US, the agricultural use of water is extremely efficient, and there are many new technologies that help farmers to manage irrigation better. Are we assisting our farmers? Is the water industry having discussions and sharing knowledge with our farmers? Farmers played a pivotal role in saving Cape Town from ‘Day Zero’.

Many institutes and organisations have launched and are running water efficiency programmes. Here is a non-exhaustive list: • The National Business Initiative has launched a water programme to address

South Africa’s risk. • The UN has launched the CEO Water

Mandate – an industry-driven initiative to reduce water stress. • AQUAffection has the #SurplusWater2025 programme to work towards achieving a water surplus. • The CSIR has created a Smart Water

Use Division to provide knowledge, innovation, skills and services to improve water supply and demand management through effective water resource planning. • Rand Water’s Water Wise campaign is aimed at increasing awareness of the need to value water and to use it wisely. We need to take these messages and amplify them to the South African public.