Water security a priority for Joburg
2011-08-15 22:29
Johannesburg - Water was one of the key resources that was focused on at the launch of the City of Johannesburg's Resource Sustainability Week at Newtown on Monday.
The City of Johannesburg was hosting the event as part of a consultation process with various stakeholders about its Growth and Development Strategy (GDS).
The GDS is a draft that defines a chosen development path for the city. The other focuses of the resource sustainability theme included energy as well as waste management.
One of the guest speakers, Paul Ben-Israel of MAC Consultancy, said that one of the productive resource assets that is under stress is water.
"There are generally five things that drive the scarcity of water: an increase in population, climate changes, pollution, lack of investment as well as the failure of the world's leadership to address the issue of water scarcity," Ben-Israel said.
He warned that water was critical for food stability going forward.
Councillor Roslynn Greeff, who is a member of the mayoral committee and heads up the Infrastructure Services and Environment portfolio, agrees, citing the increasing population of Joburg as one of the challenges affecting water security, such as the distribution and the quality of the water.
It is estimated that the population of Johannesburg will increase from 3.8 million in 2011 to between 6 and 8 million by 2040. Greef said that this amounts to an increase of about 200 000 households a year.
Poor maintenance
Geci Karuri-Sebina, an executive at South African Cities Network (SACN), pointed out that it is typically the poor who are the most negatively affected by insufficient water infrastructure.
Francois van Aswegen of the South African Institute of Civil Engineers, agreed with this and cited maintenance as another major challenge to water security.
"Pipes are not cleaned or upgraded regularly enough which results in spillages, poor effluent quality as well as poor water quality. There is limited clearing of drains and this results in most of them being blocked; and broken storm water drains leads to floods and we have seen quite a few of those in Johannesburg," Aswegen said.
He also said that more technicians were needed and more investment in education by the various structures of government was critical.
Recently, the second phase of the multi-billion rand Lesotho Highlands Water project was unveiled by the Water and Environmental Affairs minister, Edna Molewa, and the Lesotho Natural Resources Minister, Monyane Moleleki, in Maseru, Lesotho.
Construction of the 165m high, 2.2 billion m³ capacity dam at Polihali in the Mohotlong district, is expected to start in 2012, with water transfer estimated to begin in late 2018.
The Resource Sustainability Seminar is on until August 19 and the final GDS that will detail how the city plans to address its various challenges document is due to be unveiled in October.