The lack of access to clean drinking water in the developing world is a threat to global sustainability, biodiversity and ecosystem resilience.
About 2-billion people globally use a source of drinking water that is contaminated. Worldwide, more than 2-million people die every year from diarrhoeal diseases.
Poor hygiene and unsafe water are responsible for nearly 90% of these deaths and mostly affect women and children. Though access to improved water sources (such as boreholes) has increased, the quality of the water obtained from them is still unsatisfactory, as they carry various microorganisms and suspended contaminants.
March 22 has been, for the past 33 years, observed as World Water Day, which underscores the continued importance of access to fresh water and sustainable management of water resources.
The theme adopted for this year is “Water and Gender” with the campaign title “Where water flows, equality grows”. This theme emphasises safe drinking water and sanitation as fundamental human rights and critical enablers of gender equality.
The lack of safe drinking water and proper sanitation services is a global crisis that affects everyone, but not equally. It creates and worsens health issues, stunts socioeconomic progress and widens the gender and equality gaps.
South Africa is not exempt from these challenges. In addressing these issues, several key considerations should be taken into account.
First, recognising the impact of climate change on water services development and provision is critically important. The world is changing at an appreciable rate. We have to embed sustainability and resilience into the water value chain.
Second, policy and governance frameworks have to adapt as rapidly as technologies do to ensure tangible uptake of such technologies. They should provide a structured framework that translates high-level strategic goals into actionable, consistent, and accountable operational steps.
Last, implementation of new infrastructure and technologies should benefit all communities, directly or indirectly, to ensure the most vulnerable are not left behind.
The deep interdependence of water, energy, and food systems underpins a framework at the centre of the current drive towards sustainable development — the water-energy-food nexus.
Conventional and emerging energy technologies have substantial water footprints, which have to be carefully managed. Thus, integrated planning for water and energy resilience should be emphasised. Sanitation and water resources are also critically linked, with inadequate sanitation a significant threat to water quality.
Circular water solutions can address both of these issues. For example, thermal hydrolysis processing and anaerobic digestion of water treatment sludge can generate clean energy from water and sanitation systems, enhance water reclamation, and produce a digestate that can be upgraded to a high-quality, pathogen-free fertiliser for land application and agriculture.
Such solutions are technologically mature, but integration into local contexts requires innovation in financing, governance and operation.
South Africa is a water-scarce country. Moreover, the development and maintenance of water infrastructure remains a critical challenge within our borders.
However, we are encouraged by the remedial efforts at the national level. The recently tabled national budget makes provision for more than R150bn over the next three years for water and sanitation projects, which demonstrates key consideration of the importance of the sector for social upliftment and economic growth. In response to constrained water supply in some of the most densely populated areas of the country, the president has established the national water crisis committee.
We are yet to see the impact this entity will have but are hopeful that such measures will place renewed emphasis on the shared challenges in this area.
Mitigation and adaptation strategies require strong partnerships to transition to tangible solutions. At the University of KwaZulu-Natal, for example, the uMngeni-uThukela Water Chair in Water Resources Research and Innovation was established to produce use-inspired technological innovations for improvement of the water sector in KZN.
Industry and academic partnerships such as the one between uMngeni-uThukela Water and the UKZN are very important for developing a sustainable innovation ecosystem, as they allow for developing solutions to authentic problems, cross-pollination of ideas and capacity building among stakeholders.
The value of water cannot be overstated. To build an inclusive, prosperous future for all South Africans and contribute to the achievement of sustainable development goal 6, all citizens need to actively participate in water-saving strategies, industries need to improve water usage efficiency and reduce water demands, municipalities need to identify and remediate water losses, and bulk water suppliers need to carefully manage water resources. Collectively, all stakeholders in the water value chain can ensure that this critical global resource is protected.
- Lokhat is uMngeni-uThukela Water Chair in Water Resources Research and Innovation at the University of KwaZulu-Natal
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