Over the past two decades South Africa’s capability to manage its water resources has declined.
Professor Mike Muller, an adjunct professor from the University of the Witwatersrand was at the Agri SA Water Symposium that was recently held in Somerset West. Muller said that water management was complicated and there was no one size fits all. “It is critical to implement legislation to protect water security. What use is a water license, when the dams and rivers are empty.” He used an example of boreholes that supplied a Karoo town with water, but due to bad management the pumps broke down and as a result these towns now get water delivered once a week from a jo-jo tank on a truck.
Population growth and climate change will complicate water management further, he said. Muller pointed out that good water management has to address several socio-political issues. “Water has value and will be measured in social terms, meaning jobs, economic inclusion, and growth. Whatever we do for water in the future, it must address the needs of all people, including small scale farmers.”
The competition for water in South Africa will only increase, he said. “Commercial agriculture is just one sector in need of good water management and in the future will have to do more with less. Agriculture should focus on more efficient production practices, intensified farming, and making sure there are markets that will buy products.”
Mr Anil Singh, DDG Department of Water and Sanitation, said that water resource management on a local level is critical. In the meantime the Department is taking decisive action to curb pollution, Singh said. “We have a water quality strategy and are looking to implement it. Again, we need to look at local governments and what the failures are in the system, to prevent pollution.”
Prof Andries Jordaan, a research fellow at the University of the Free State said that food and water security, especially in the rural areas, are dependent on the local government and the community, not on the national government. “When we run out of water the most vulnerable in our communities, including small-scale farmers, will suffer the most. This will result in land reform failure and we simply cannot have that. We need water heroes.”
Dr Ivan Meyer, MEC for Agriculture in the Western Cape, said that the agricultural sector is of fundamental importance and plays an integral part in the Western Cape economy. “Agriculture in the Western Cape generates a total income of R21 billion a year and provides for 17% of the total employment in the Western Cape and 26,7% of agri-workers in South Africa. The Western Cape contributes 45% to South Africa’s agricultural exports. Reason enough to grow and protect this industry. We need to protect our resources, we need to protect agriculture, at all costs.”