Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina assured parliament that South Africa’s current water supply was in balance with existing demand on a national scale.
However, water availability in the country could deteriorate rapidly as supply contracts and demand escalates due to a number of factors including population growth, urbanisation and the impacts of climate change, said Majodina.
She addressed the National Assembly on Tuesday on the country’s water security, stating that delays in the implementation of surface water resource development projects in the past have now been addressed and all planned projects accelerated.
The department and the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) are currently implementing 14 national water resource infrastructure projects around the country, to a value of more than R100 billion.
Majodina warned that there were limits to which South Africa could keep building dams to address its water security needs.
“We are already harnessing approximately 75% of our utilizable surface water resources, and the remaining opportunities for capturing surface water in large dams are expensive. Broadening of South Africa’s water resource mix is therefore critical for water security. We need to diversify the water resource mix by increasing the sustainable use of groundwater, making more use of desalination of sea water in our coastal towns and cities, and by re-using water from the wastewater treatment systems in our towns and cities.
“In addition to these measures to increase the supply of raw water, we also need to implement measures to reduce the demand for water,” she said.
Majodina urged the public to change their behaviour regarding water usage.
“This means that municipalities must fix the leaks in their water distribution systems. We cannot afford to be throwing away almost half of the water that is supplied to municipalities through leaks.
The average per capita water consumption in South Africa is 218 litres per capita per day, compared to the international average of 173 litres per capita per day. This is not sustainable,” said Majodina.
She attributed the water supply challenges being experienced in Gauteng and parts of KwaZulu-Natal to growth in the demand for water caused by population increase and leaks in municipal water distribution systems as a result of under-budgeting for infrastructure maintenance.
Deputy Minister David Mahlobo also emphasised that while there were areas of concern, the country was not going to run out of water by 2030.
MP’s reported that the Constitutional Court office on Constitution Hill in Braamfontein has also been forced to operate remotely as a result of water cuts.
DA MP Stephen Moore urged the minister to take stringent oversight measures and failing municipalities to court saying they must be held accountable.
Rise Mzanzi’s MP Magashule Gana said the country was staring at what was a preventable water crisis in the face of many of the hallmarks of the energy crisis.
ACDP’s Wayne Thring said: “Clearly the greater problem to our water security, is not that South Africa is a water scarce country, but rather that in the vast majority of our municipalities, almost 50% of water purchased is lost through leakage, broken pipes and theft.
The vast majority do not invest in the basic amount required for infrastructure, repairs and maintenance, including water infrastructure. We also have water boards that are at risk of bankruptcy.”
Cape Times