New Year’s resolution: to become better communicators

Over the past month, there has been extensive communication with the public over water issues revolving around the closure of some Durban and Cape Town beaches, imposed water restrictions in Gauteng, the drought in Gqeberha, potential floods in KwaZuluNatal and water supply interruptions around the country due to load-shedding. By Dan Naidoo, chairman, WISA

Managing water requires effective communication with all stakeholders, particularly customers and the public. By engaging customers and the public, the water sector can encourage a positive behaviour change, increase support for investment in water infrastructure, and assist local communities and the environment.

However, most of our communication with the public is reactive. Today, the public is far more knowledgeable; they are aware of the state of our water and wastewater infrastructure and ask some very important – and sometimes difficult – questions...

Does the pollution in Durban beaches affect the quality of my drinking water? Why are there water restrictions in Johannesburg when the dams are full? How does load-shedding affect water supply in my area? Why do only some areas have water? How many days until ‘Day Zero’? Is our water safe to drink? What are the chances of cholera? What is E. coli and how much of it is in my water?

This interest is good, because taxpayers must know how their municipalities and water utilities are performing and hold them to account when necessary. An informed public can motivate for bigger water and sanitation budgets, and are more likely to value and conserve water.

Information and education key

There is, of course the danger of misinformation and the public misinterpreting data and technical terms, but it is our job as the water sector to educate and inform them. We need to improve upon the skill of communicating complex terms and processes in an understandable, digestible format.

We should be creating and providing up-to-date dashboards of information for the public to view. We should be unpacking why water is a precious resource, the impacts of climate change on water and challenges in our sector, as well as the current status quo in the least technical manner. This is the only way that we gain the trust of the public. We need to deconstruct and demystify the water sector.

It is also important to give people hope. They must know about our plans to improve the situation, and the completed projects that have a direct positive impact on their lives. We should inform them of work done to give more people access to safe water and sanitation, and how we are tracking in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 in 2030.

Sharing this information will give the public some assurance that we are working towards improving the situation and will also hold the water sector accountable. It will also accelerate the public acceptance of new technologies like non-sewered sanitation and water reuse.