Capacity building required if SA is to avert water crisis
Monday, 14 March 2011 |  Dennis Ndaba  |  0 comment

Image by Wes Peck

South African Institute of Civil Engineering water division chairperson Dr Chris Herold says that the county’s water crisis is not at this stage a result of demand outstripping supply, but a mismatch between water demand and supply, which is largely a man-made problem.

This is compounded by the fact that 30% to 40% of water is lost, which also raises the issue of efficient water use by all sectors.

Herold told the inaugural South African Water and Energy Forum (SAWEF) that role-players, such as the Department of Water Affairs, were losing expertise and institutional capacity at an alarming rate.

The SAWEF hopes to create space in which key players from all sectors can be brought together to engage with one another.

The organisation also wants to create a platform to support sustainable employment for the millions of unemployed people in South Africa.

“To solve the problem, we need to build essential capacity. We need political will, finances and capacity to address the problem,” said Herold.

He added that the timing of reductions in the country’s gas emissions was crucial as the country could not, in an economy that is fragile, double the price of power generation.

“If we do that, we will kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. If we impose carbon emission taxes, our exports will decline.”

He warned that there was great danger in going ahead with the introduction of carbon taxes, ahead of developed countries.

Developing Country

Herold advocated that the country use its status of a developing country, “and if we do not do that, we will destroy our economy”.

Touchstone Resources director Dr Anthony Turton said that the solutions were there in abundance.

“What we need is a new spirit of engagement, a new approach to solving the problem. We believe that the simple scale of the environmental problems manifest in both the energy and water sectors will force us to confront them and do what has to be done. This is part of our economic transformation and we cannot afford to get it wrong.”

Edited by: Martin Zhuwakinyu