Cape Town - Less talk and more action was needed to holistically protect the country’s scare water resources.
This was the sentiment at a stakeholder dialogue hosted by the National Planning Commission on Friday to discuss the National Water Security Framework, where researchers, environmentalists, the government and NGOs agreed that the country was slow to implement policies that were put in place as far back as 1994.
South Africa is a water scarce country which has provinces that are experiencing severe drought conditions, including parts of the Western Cape.
NPC’s Commissioner Dr Pulane Molokwane said based on their analysis, it could take 13 to15 years to recover the time lost in the implementation of the many policies in the water sector.
Molokwane said the framework looks at water holistically as well as reviewing some of the policy and legislation in place.
“Long-term planning will not focus on specific projects but rather a need to plan, implement and manage our water resources using the nexus approach which includes water, energy good and land,” she said.
CSIR researcher Ashwin Seetal said while the country had policies, strategies and commitment to achieve its water ambitions, the lack of action was an issue.
“We have backlogs (infrastructure maintenance) and have lost much time with implementation for a number of reasons and have to play very serious catch-up through fast-tracking key initiatives and programmes over the next three to five year,” he said.
“The successful implementation of the NWSF as an enabler of our socio-political stability and socio-economic prosperity can be achieved. The framework is a clarion call to all South Africans through the National Planning Commission in implementing our NDP and securing our water resources.”
A participant in the discussion, Lefadi Makibinyane, said while policy proposals and frameworks were a step in the right direction, the dire state of some of the country’s wastewater treatment plants showed a ‘time-bomb waiting to explode’ in terms of the treatment of existing water resources.
“Our waste water treatment works are in a deplorable state, sewage water is being discharged into our rivers,” he said.
“We are either so negligent and lawless or have a lack of knowledge of our policies that we are letting these practices go on. It is a disaster, a time-bomb. We can’t talk about securing water when the basics not done or followed. We need decisiveness and a better management of our systems.”
Moloko Batlala from the Department of Water and Sanitation highlighted the importance of waste water usage.
“The contribution of households to water security is also of great importance, issues like rainwater harvesting from both urban and rural areas. We need to take lessons from the energy sector where you see solar panels on the roofs of households as a good example. Every drop that falls from our roofs should be harvested and be made part of the water security plan,” he said.
Dr Misuveni Ngobeni from National Treasury said while the funding gap in South Africa for water was said to be around 30%. The figure was actually lower given the underspending of government funds.
“Actual spending in the water and sanitation sector on an annual basis, in relation to other infrastructure-related sectors is about 14%. In 2020/2021, roughly about R37 billion is spent every year, given the R55 billion set aside for grants,” he said.
“You can see that there is underutilisation of funding streams and mechanisms in the water sector. You spend way less than you have available and this money reverts back to the fiscus if it is not subjected to the rollover process.”
“In terms of the statistics, the master plan reports a water deficit of about 17% by 2030 and this is largely due to growing demand across sectors, population growth, urbanisation as well as inefficient water usage.
“In South African, 61% of the water is used by the agricultural sector and has the largest share of the allocation and the rest goes to other sectors. The average domestic water user uses about 64litres more per day than the global user. What this means is on a monthly basis, a South African uses about 7 347 litres of water while it is about 5 363 for a global user. It is even above the indigent threshold policy that we have. Already it talks about the policy adjustment that needs to happen.”