South Africa is one of the world's driest nations, and climate change is predicted to reduce its rainfall further
SEBOKENG, South Africa (AlertNet) - Lush green lawns line the streets of South Africa’s Sebokeng township, some 70 km south of Johannesburg. Thulani Manyisa, 17, stands on the verdant but already water-logged patch in front of his parents’ sprawling brick house, sprinkler in hand.
“Water is a free gift from God and must be used, not saved,” he says, adding that he sees nothing wrong with hose-pipe watering.
“We have been doing this as long as I can remember,” he recalls, pointing to his neighbour who is busy splashing litres of water on a tarred road.
About 360 households in Zone 15 of Sebokeng, in Emfuleni municipality, don’t pay for their water usage. Of these, 220 don’t have account numbers, 140 have unmetered connections and around 15 percent of existing meters do not work.
That means abuse of water is the order of the day, with leaking pipes and trickling taps left unattended.
Such wastage matters, water management experts say, because South Africa has limited water reserves. The country is among the driest on earth, with rainfall of about 45.7 cm a year, just over half the world average.
The water the country does have is unevenly distributed. Most of the supply that feeds Gauteng province, the country’s industrial and economic hub, comes from the highlands of neighbouring Lesotho.
And climate change is expected to exacerbate the country’s water problems.
Recent research from the University of Cape Town predicts that temperatures will rise over the whole of South Africa as the planet warms, but particularly in the central and Northern Cape areas. Temperatures are expected to increase by between 1.4 and 5.8 degrees Celsius by 2100, and sea levels are likely to rise 10 cm to 90 cm, the research says.
Peter Johnson, an applied climatologist with the university, says less rainfall and more evaporation due to higher temperatures will further strain the limited amount of water available for agriculture, homes and businesses.
Summer rainfall is estimated to decrease by 5 percent in the northern regions and 25 percent in the Eastern and Southern Cape, while the Western Cape risks a loss of up to 35 percent of its current winter rainfall, Johnson told AlertNet last month.
DESERT-LIKE CONDITIONS
Some parts of the country are already suffering from water shortages. As Sebokeng’s Zone 15 residents continue to drench their grass, other regions are experiencing desert-like conditions that have wrought havoc on urban dwellers’ gardens and farm crops alike.
Jocephine Mokale, a 75-year-old resident of Sebokeng’s Zone 7, says people in the area should realise that a drop of water could soon cost more than a drop of oil. “It is my opinion that everyone who uses water should pay for it. Water management should be every citizen’s duty,” she says.
Since her arrival in 1945, Mokale says she has seen changes in the quality and quantity of local water.
Natural water points are less plentiful, wetlands have vanished, reservoirs have dried up and the Vaal River, the area’s main source of water, no longer flows like it used to.
“These days you can’t drink water from that stream,” Mokale says, pointing towards a small stream some three kilometres away. “It’s heavily polluted and the water itself smells. The colour is dark and there is nothing living in it. That stream used to be our natural water source.”
MAJOR LEAKAGES
Emfuleni municipality supplies water to around 757,000 people, whose daily consumption reaches 200 million litres per day. But the water system is characterised by high losses, estimated at just over a third of total supply.
Including non-payment brings that figure up to 53 percent, according to Thembi Mkhize, director of Metsi-a-Lekoa, a municipal division responsible for water services.
These physical and financial leakages translate into water losses of up to 3,000 million litres per month - a major cost in both environmental and monetary terms.
Mkhize says everyone must start using less water – especially with climate change threatening to make South Africa’s water problems worse.
“Water is going to be the ‘new oil’, a resource that has long been squandered, (which is) now growing expensive and (will) soon be overwhelmed by insatiable demand,” she argues.
Part of the solution lies in behaviour change and the policies needed to make that happen, she says.
“If people are to use water with more care, they must know how much they draw and what it costs. They must also know how to use it, and reuse it, productively,” she explains.
“To make progress on this front requires education, not least of politicians. Then policies must be drawn up and implemented. All this requires money - for meters, pipes, sewers, satellites and low-flow taps.”
CONSERVATION EFFORTS
In an effort to promote more efficient use of the precious resource, Emfuleni recently launched a water conservation project in partnership with the German co-operation agency GIZ and Sasol, a leading South African fuel-supply company, both of which contributed $690,000 in start-up capital.
The project aims to reduce water losses by retrofitting public and household plumbing. It also aims to increase public awareness of water conservation measures, while reducing water demand by 15 percent.
When it ends in 2014, the three-year initiative is projected to reduce water wastage by an annual twelve billion litres, saving costs of 62 million rand (around $7.8 million), according to Emfuleni Executive Mayor Greta Hlongwane.
“We are implementing educational and information programmes in community centres and schools,” she explains. “We have also put in place a steering committee within the municipality that actively involves citizens.”
In mid-2005, Emfuleni also started operating a new water plant that regulates pressure according to water demand, lowering it at night when little water is required.
The system - the only one of its kind in South Africa - reduces leakage through burst pipes, and saves the municipality the equivalent of 10 million m3 per annum of water.
It has also led to substantial energy savings from reduced pumping thanks to lower pressure and water flow – an annual equivalent of 14,250 megawatt hours of electricity produced from fossil fuels such as low-grade coal.
As a result, Metsi-a-Lekoa has been able to shrink the carbon footprint of its water business, reducing its emissions of greenhouse gases by 12,000 metric tonnes per year.
“Our water supplies are being affected by the change in climatic conditions as well as being polluted at an alarming rate. Our future is doomed if we don’t save water now,” says director Mkhize.
Fidelis Zvomuya, based in Pretoria, South Africa, is a writer specialising in environmental and agricultural reporting.
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