If we want a green future, we need to think green now

News that a devastating combination of drought and economic hardship is driving farmers to suicide is another warning that we need to adjust to a reality in which abundant water can no longer be taken for granted.

The lesson is being taught on a weekly basis in the Western Cape with the release of figures showing dam levels declining to previously unheard-of levels.

Kevin Winter of the Future Water Institute at the University of Cape Town says the message we need to absorb is simple: "We must rethink where our water comes from."

This is reinforced by a new scientific study that attempts to predict long-term rainfall patterns in sub-Saharan Africa. It predicts "a marked decrease in the number of rainy days, together with a strong increase in the rainfall amounts during the 1% wettest days, by the end of the 21st century".

The consequences? "Enhanced floods or droughts, stronger soil erosion ... questioning the sustainability of food security for the 300million people currently living in Africa south of the Equator."

We can all use less water. Cape Town has demonstrated this by virtually halving its consumption compared with a year ago.

But as Winter makes clear, executive action is also required: "We don't have enough policy in place to assist the growth and development of the technologies needed to manage the water more efficiently. We really need to open up our thinking towards a green economy stance on water management."

The search for answers to water security will feature high on the agenda tomorrow at Ideas World Cup Cape Town, part of what is described as the first worldwide ideas competition.

It will be of little consolation to the desperate farmers of the Northern Cape, but adversity invariably generates opportunity. If we want our future to be green, we need to start thinking green, and our attitude to water is a good place to start.