South Africa’s water crisis is having a significant impact on economic growth and on the wellbeing of South African citizens, Department of Water and Sanitation deputy director-general Trevor Balzer told delegates at Consulting Engineers of South Africa’s recent Infrastructure Indaba, in Johannesburg.
He said the water crisis facing the country was caused by insufficient water infrastructure maintenance and investment, together with recurrent droughts driven by climatic variation, deteriorating water quality and a lack of skilled water engineers.
Some 35% of South African citizens did not have access to reliable drinking water and 14.1-million people did not have access to safe sanitation, while 41% of municipal water did not generate revenue.
“South Africa is facing a projected 17% water deficit by 2030 if it doesn’t adopt a ‘new normal’. Achieving water security in the country requires a significant paradigm shift that recognises the limitations of water availability and the need for financial sustainability,” he said.
Balzer added that water availability could deteriorate rapidly as the country’s supply had contracted and demand had escalated, owing to growth, urbanisation, inefficient use, water losses and the negative impacts of climate change.
Based on projections, by 2030, the water deficit could be between 2 700- million and 3 800-million cubic metres a year, a gap of about 17% of available surface and groundwater.
“A key issue is that agricultural consumption is largely unmetered, and there are also concerns about unauthorised abstraction and water waste in the sector. In addition, agricultural users pay a much lower tariff than other users of untreated water and the relatively cheap water has not incentivised the adoption of water efficient irrigation practices,” he said.
Balzer highlighted that average municipal water use in South Africa was about 237 ℓ per person per day, compared with the world average of 173 ℓ per person per day.
“Since large numbers of South Africans use very small amounts of water per day, this average masks the high water use by privileged sectors of the population. The high water use is partly due to municipal, nonrevenue water which is currently at an unacceptably 41% high.”
He noted that municipalities were losing about 1 660-million cubic metres of water each year through nonrevenue water. At a unit cost of R6/m3, this amounted to R9.9-billion each year, he said.
There was a significant opportunity to reduce water demand in the municipal and irrigation sectors.
“Water demand must be reduced by improving efficiency, adopting new technologies and reducing losses through water awareness programmes and strict regulation and incentives, while average domestic consumption must be reduced to 175 ℓ per person per day by 2025,” he stated.
On the supply side, he noted there was a need to move from the current water mix, which was dominated by surface water with some groundwater and return flows, to a water mix that included increased groundwater use, together with water reclamation, desalination and treated acid mine drainage (AMD).
By 2040, Balzer said, treated AMD and desalinated seawater would make a significant contribution to South Africa’s water mix and the overreliance on surface water would be reduced.
“A multiyear, detailed schedule of actions is being developed for implementation for the period 2018 to 2030. This schedule of actions will be prioritised and refined in consultation with all stakeholders during the proposed mini Phakisa, scheduled to take place towards the end of August,” he said.