•  cape town
• Tuesday, March 22, 2011
• Inter Press Service

As a U.N. conference on water opens in South Africa today, the country's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research has repeated warnings that the country faces a water supply crisis. Experts attending the three-day conference will consider the challenges posed by growing demands, migration and water resources potentially limited by careless use and climate change.

The CSIR report on South Africa states, 'The country is facing a water supply crisis caused by a combination of low rainfall, high evaporation rates, an expanding economy and a growing population whose geographical demands for water do not conform to the distribution of exploitable water supplies'.

The issues raised are shared across Africa's semi-arid regions, with managers grappling with demands for electricity for mining and industry, for water for irrigation to consolidate food security and rural incomes, and the challenge of sustaining domestic water supply to fast-growing cities.

The report makes a frank and honest assessment of how Africa’s biggest economy is handling the pressure. 'In 2005, more than 95 percent of the country’s fresh water resources have already been allocated. Water quality has declined due to increased population.'

Mbangiseni Nepfumbada, from the policy and regulation division of the country's Department of Water Affairs, said he and his colleagues are presently reviewing the country's national water resource strategy.

'Within SA and perhaps for many countries in Africa, we know know all too well that we are not endowed with water resources and that ours is not much of a choice when it comes to judicious management of water.' Since non-racial elections in 1994, water has emerged as a key human rights issue with improving access for both the rural and urban poor becoming a key priority for the government.

Dr Kevin Wall from the CSIR says that in 1994, 60 percent of the country’s population of 39 million had basic access to water. Today nearly 90 percent of a population that has risen to around 45 million have access to water. But 5.7 million people still lack adequate access.

'South Africa can be rightly proud of the water infrastructure it has rolled out since 1994, and the increasing proportion of the population that now has access to infrastructure that permits first-hand experience of, water is life and sanitation is dignity, but many challenges remain.'

Among the challenges Wall refers are ageing infrastructure and the capacity to maintain and extend it in the future. Wall’s research shows the estimated cost to replace municipal and water board and services fixed assets is close to 30 billion dollars.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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