Water has the potential to become the subject of future conflicts {writer: Shaun Meyer}

Concerns are mounting in Africa and the rest of the world about the state and sustainability of freshwater resources that are essential to all life on the planet.

These concerns and uncertainties centre on questions such as: How will changing weather patterns impact on the amounts of water we receive? Are we wasting too much because of pollution and leaking pipes of the ageing infrastructure of our cities?

Some analysts predict that water will become as important and sought-after a commodity as oil, with the potential to trigger conflicts.

Concentrating on South Africa, the African continent and the Middle East, this article takes a look at the challenges facing these regions in the medium- to longer term, and what is being done to deal with a potential crisis.

One of the possible responses receiving greater attention is the increased use of desalination of seawater – an option that is already being used extensively by cities such as Melbourne in Australia.

The Western Cape, where winter rains are expected to become less abundant, may have to increasingly look at this option to supplement natural freshwater sources.

Already the effects of continuous droughts in the Southern Cape are impacting on urban complexes such as Mossel Bay where a desalination plant is under construction. Though it is expensive, few other options are available.

Cities such as Cape Town and Port Elizabeth may presently have less rainfall worries; but growing populations, in decades with increased pressure on available water resources, will pose considerable challenges on this front, with PE’s supply needs already showing a deficit.

For the rest of Africa, problems exist to an even larger extent.

There is an interesting situation on the Nile River, with countries bordered on it in an ongoing debate about how much water each nation should be entitled to.

Even in the United States, droughts are becoming more common in many states in the south – from Arizona to Georgia – accompanied by the danger of runaway fires.

The scarcity of safe drinking water is also becoming a major issue.

According to Innovations for Poverty Action, a non-profit organisation dedicated to bridging the gap between academia and development policy in practice, globally almost 1.9 million children die each year from diseases caused by unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation and poor hygiene facilities.

Efficient sanitation is crucial. When water basins are polluted, water resources are lost – something that cannot be afforded.

South Africa’s water crisis

The main challenges facing South Africa on the freshwater front are pollution, poor quality and scarcity. Other problems are poor sanitation and water service delivery.

In addition, there are problems with eutrophication (excessive nutrients) in dams and rivers.

Enhanced exploration of groundwater, which should not only be relied upon during droughts, could be used on an ongoing basis to help solve some of the challenges.

In urban areas, leaking pipes in distribution systems are considered a huge problem and in urgent need of attention countrywide.

Recycling is also in need of urgent attention and should only be seriously considered after resources run out, as recently occurred in Beaufort West and many small towns along the Cape’s South Coast.

Urgency

If South Africa is to avoid dire water shortages across the country, issues such as the acid water legacy of more than one hundred years of mining activity in Gauteng and elsewhere need to be addressed urgently.

The City of Cape Town is considering desalination, and plans to call for tenders for a feasibility study on a large-scale seawater desalination plant. The study will look at questions such as where such a desalination plant could be built and what capacity it should have.

The other option is recycling of water, namely reusing water, which may be much less expensive than desalination, which requires a large amount of electricity.

According to the Mossel Bay Municipality, South Africa’s largest seawater desalination plant at Voorbaai is structurally complete and on target. The plant is undergoing final commissioning tests at present. It has a capacity to supply 10 million litres of desalinated seawater per day to the municipality and five million litres a day to the Petroleum, Oil and Gas Corporation of South Africa Limited.

Municipal manager Dr Michele Gratz said that “the commissioning stage is going well, and we look forward to the day that the first water from the plant can be fed into the municipality’s water network.

“Although the dams, from which the municipality traditionally draws its water are in a healthy state at present because of good rains that fell in recent months, the plant is invaluable to Mossel Bay from the point of view of its longer term water security.

“The tender for the rehabilitation of the dune in front of the plant is also expected to be awarded soon. This involves the replanting and caring for thousands of dune plants that were removed when construction started and were preserved at another site in the meantime,” she added.

“The protection of the environment is very important to us, but it will take several months for the dunes and beach to be rehabilitated fully.”

The African situation

Urgent action is required to avoid a water and sanitation crisis in Africa. According to the Millennium Development Goals, water is crucial to the continent’s development and poses a number of challenges like nowhere else in the world.

The mismanagement of water resources in Africa has been a factor, where some governments have paid little attention to the conservation of water resources, which has led people in certain countries to dig for underground water for the purposes of drinking and washing.

Political tensions are building in parts of Africa as countries fight over shared rivers and other water sources. The worse tensions exist in northeast Africa along the Nile. But there are also tensions in the southeast corner of the continent, including between Mozambique and South Africa.

Climate change has not helped either, with a lack of forestry – which only makes things worse for countries such as Ethiopia where malnutrition, among others, is rife.

At the African Development Bank (AfDB) annual meetings of its Board of Governors, underdevelopment of water resources and services were identified as being at the heart of Africa’s food security, as well as its poor health, energy and power status.

Utilisation of water resources for domestic and productive activities is low, with less than 5% of Africa’s surface and groundwater harnessed for all use.

Michel Camdessus, former International Monetary Fund managing director and a strong advocate for the development of water and sanitation infrastructure in Africa, warned of the catastrophe that awaits if governments fail to address the issue in the next decade. “Governments must realise that if the situation is serious today, it is likely to gravely worsen without proper water strategies and policies,” he said.

Some facts    

Of sub-Saharan Africa’s populations, 40% lack access to safe drinking water, and 69% have no access to proper sanitation facilities. In rural areas, these figures increase to 53% and 76% respectively.

As for future population estimates for the African continent: by the 2020s, Africa’s population is expected to increase to 1.34 billion. This is not rosy for areas where there already is a lack of freshwater availability, and more than 20 countries in future are expected to suffer water scarcity problems.

According to this year’s AfDB annual meetings, the investment required to meet Africa’s water needs is between US$50 billion and US$54bn per year during each of the next 20 years. Forecasts on annual spending required for the water sector reveal a sizeable financing gap and an increased need from non-traditional funding sources. Future annual spending on water supply and sanitation is estimated at US$21.9bn, compared with current spending levels of US$7.6bn.

Apart from inadequate financing, the development and management of water infrastructure has a strong trans-boundary dimension that underlines the complexities of water management.

Africa has 80 trans-boundary rivers and lake water basins, including 38 groundwater aquifer basins shared by more than one country.

In spite of the support provided by the AfDB to regional economic communities and numerous river/lake basin development organisations, the level of co-ordination, co-operation and formal agreements on shared water resources is low, further reducing the opportunity to strengthen these burgeoning regional institutions.

The Arab world

Though the Arab world is a great producer of oil, water sources are few and far between, with a small number of rivers and decreasing underground water sources.

But how will the region cope with populations expected to increase to more than 600 million in the next 40 years, which would mean a greater need for water?

The water crisis can be linked to the rise in food prices; these problems are causing political tensions in the Arab countries, say the World Bank and the United Nations.

Topping the agenda at the 15th African International Water and Sanitation Congress and Exhibition was the sharing of Lake Victoria waters, reversing the destruction of forests, and working out strategies that would attract private capital in the provision of the commodity to Africans, said Dr William Tsimwa, managing director of Uganda‘s National Water and Sewerage Corporation.

“Lake Victoria is a big resource that can be used to cater for arid areas in most parts of the East African region,” he noted. “The meeting was a forum where ideas on how water can be bulk transmitted to disadvantaged areas come up.”

Tension has been rising between Egypt and Sudan, over colonial agreements that favoured Egypt and Sudan in the exploitation of the Nile waters.

As part of the proposed Nile River Basin Co-operative Framework, other countries are now demanding an equitable water-sharing pact that would allow for greater access to the resource.

More than 80 of Africa’s rivers and lake basins are shared by two or more countries, and many states depend on water flowing from outside their national boundaries.

For a good water management policy in African cities, several challenges have to be met, such as the implementation of laws and regulation giving water management to local communities.

According to CRISISBOOM.com, the challenges, proposals and recommendations that can remedy the water situation include the following:

• The development of a framework for the management of surface water resources;

• The necessity of financial means and human resources to monitor and operate the equipment; and

• Informing and educating people for a rational use of watering places.

To improve people’s access to drinking water, African cities require support in the following areas:

• Control, development and water supply based on supply and demand;

• Management and the rational exploitation of water resources;

• Training and re-training of communities and the establishment of a process concerning equipment renewal;

• Strengthening of drinking water supply systems;

• Establishment of a high council for water;

• Set up of a water fund for real management of the resource; and

• Establishment of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.