There is a limit to which SA’s water needs can be met by new dams, and it was critical for alternative sources of water to be developed, water & sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina said in parliament on Tuesday.
What was needed, the minister said in a statement on water security in the National Assembly, was to increase use of groundwater, make more use of desalination of seawater in coastal towns and cities, and reuse water from wastewater treatment systems.
“In addition to these measures to increase the supply of raw water, we also need to implement measures to reduce the demand for water.
“If we are to avoid water shortages in future, South Africans need to change their behaviour and treat water like the scarce resource that it is,” said Majodina.
She noted that the country was already harnessing about 75% of its utilisable surface water resources and the remaining opportunities for capturing surface water in large dams was expensive.
The department of water & sanitation and the Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority were implementing 14 water resource infrastructure projects around the country valued at more than R100bn. These included phase two of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project and the raising of the walls of the Hazelmere, Clanwilliam, Tzaneen and Klipfontein dams.
“Water availability could deteriorate rapidly as supply contracts and demand escalates due to economic growth, population growth, urbanisation, inefficient use (including increasing physical losses in municipal distribution systems), degradation of wetlands, and the impacts of climate change,” said Majodina.
Municipalities had to fix the leaks in their water distribution systems as it was unaffordable for nearly half of all water supplied to them to be wasted in this way.
Majodina said the average per capita water consumption of water in SA is 218 litres per capita per day, compared with the international average of 173 litres per capita per day. This was not sustainable in one of the 30 most water scarce countries in the world. Its average consumption of water should be far below the international average.
She said that at present, raw water supply was balanced with existing demand on a national scale, but there were localised deficits in the supply of water, such as in Gauteng and parts of KwaZulu-Natal.
Water supply disruptions in Gauteng, eThekwini and surrounding municipalities were not caused by drought, but by the rapid growth in demand for water in those areas and the increase in leaks stemming from municipalities underbudgeting for infrastructure maintenance.
It would only be possible for Rand Water and the Umgeni uThukela water boards to abstract more water from the Vaal and Umgeni water systems once the Lesotho Highlands and uMkhomazi water projects were completed.
“At present, the peak demand for water in Gauteng and eThekwini is occasionally exceeding the supply available from water boards. This means that we need to reduce the demand for water.”
One of the key ways to reduce demand was for municipalities to fix leaks in their water distribution systems.
“These losses are 33% on average across Gauteng municipalities, and approximately 45% in eThekwini. This compares to the international norm of 15%.”
Awareness of residents and businesses in Gauteng and KZN of the need to use water sparingly had to be raised and the services of the World Bank 2030 Water Resources Group was being secured to implement a mass awareness and communications campaign, in partnership with business and civil society leaders.
“Coupled with the awareness campaign, the municipalities must put in place stricter water-use restrictions and enforce them,” said the minister.
That the level of water in the Vaal Dam had fallen to about 33% was not the cause of water supply disruptions in Gauteng, said Majodina.
If and when the Vaal Dam’s water level reached 18%, water would be released from the Sterkfontein Dam, part of the integrated Vaal River system. This water would flow into the Vaal Dam, enabling Rand Water to continue to draw water at its present rate.
During the debate on her statement, opposition MPs spoke of water scarcity and poor quality water around the country.
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