It is National Water Week in South Africa, and the focus is on taking responsibility for the country’s water resources. According to SRK Consulting, the concept of water stewardship embraces this ethic and provides practical ways to apply it.
The campaign this year urges everyone to use water sparingly to ensure “Water for All”. March also celebrated the United Nations’ World Water Day on 22 March.
The UN has already warned that countries are “seriously off-track” in meeting their Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) six of ensuring safely managed water and sanitation for everyone by 2030.
The UN has also called on global citizens to take action on how they use, consume and manage water under the campaign theme “Be the change you want to see in the world”.
Water security
South Africa is certainly seeing rising concern about its water security, making the “Water for All” theme as urgent as ever. In his recent Budget speech Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced R121 billion would be spent over the medium term on national water infrastructure. This included a National Budget facility for infrastructure that had approved municipal water infrastructure projects to the value of R3,7 billion.
Broad view
“The world’s water quality is increasingly degraded, increasing treatment costs and impacting the health of the ecosystem,” Godongwana explained. “The value of the water stewardship concept is that it encourages a broad view of water management that extends beyond each stakeholder’s operational boundaries and demands more active collaboration.”
Another aspect of water management requiring more attention is the level of support and training in rural water supply, according to Gert Nel, principal hydrogeologist and partner at SRK Consulting.
