Future of water security
Education key to safeguard scarce resource to avoid devastating conflicts and catastrophes
ONE OF THE most important global challenges is access to sufficient, good quality water. The world faces a water crisis and the bad news is that the situation is getting worse.
Water is the source of life and access to it is regarded as a basic human right and a symbol of dignity. It is also a powerful symbol throughout the world – of baptism and new life, cleansing and healing, and the promise of growth and prosperity. Therefore, the increasing scarcity of water is posing devastating threats to development and raises the spectre of conflicts and catastrophes.
Water security can be defined as the capacity to provide and protect sustainable access to clean water.
One of the biggest challenges in South Africa is that the limited available water is distributed unfairly across the country, especially in rural areas.
In 2015, the country received 403mm of rainfall – the lowest annual total on record. This caused the average dam levels to drop from 93% in March 2014 to 48% in November 2016. Early last year, the quantity of water declined but it is now considered to be moderately low at about 59%.
The water crisis spread out to the parts of Western Cape Province last year. In February 2017, the Western Cape dams were at 36% of their total capacity, down by nearly 7% from 2016. It was assumed that if the water level falls below 20% it can no longer be pumped out in this area.
During this crisis the City of Cape Town implemented increasingly strict restrictions. The projection is that in 2030 this country will face a serious water crisis. Thus, interventions and solutions are required – urgently.
However, it is important to start with what causes the problem.
The first factor is water pollution. In most cases, industries such as mines deposit waste into water, making the water unhealthy and unsafe for use.
The second is the over usage of water – the agricultural sector uses about 75% of the world’s clean water.
Drought is also a major contributing factor owing to low, or no, rainfall.
Conflict is also contributing to the water crisis, especially when people fight over the control of sources like rivers, resulting in some people not having access to water.
In some cases, the distances to the sources might discourage others to fetch it, especially travelling longer distances.To tackle this water crisis, the roots to all the solutions lies in “education”.
People should be educated more on how they can prevent the problem from becoming worse in the near future. Civil society must also be educated about water pollution, especially how to prevent it.
Apart from just educating people, research and innovation can be used as a tool to tackle the water crisis. Through the application of research and innovation, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) set up a platform of joint research and innovation to ensure a thorough and co-ordinated approach among research communities.
The water research communities are formally organised in the established BRICS Network University and several South African universities – North West, Durban University of Technology and Central University of Technology are conducting research.
Brazil has two universities that participate in the research – the University of Campinas and the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. India also has two – the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and National Institute of Technology, Durgapur.
China has five universities: Jilin, Hohai, Southwest, Sichuan and the North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power.
In Russia 10 universities participate in water resources and pollution treatment research – St Petersburg State, Ural Federal, Tomsk State, Moscow Institute on Physics and Technology, Moscow State University, Moscow Institute on Physics and Technology, National University of Science and Technology, Tomsk Polytechnic, Higher School of Economics and the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia.
Maybe it is time to introduce stricter law enforcement with the establishment of a Water Police Enforcement Agency in the agricultural sector . This is to ensure that farming and irrigation practices are improved to reduce water usage. In addition, strong emphasis should be reinforced with regard to water recycling.
Recycling goes beyond saving enough water; it can also save people money. People should avoid keeping taps of water running when not needed; obey water restrictions and practise sustainable home living needs.
There is also a significant need to repair and improve existing sewerage systems. If water crises continue to rise with no interventions, water conflicts will increase with neighbouring countries and communities fighting over it.
These water conflicts will threaten the lives of individuals, food security, energy and economic development in developing and developed countries.
This is because water security is regarded as the foundation of energy and food security.
If water crisis continues to rise with no interventions, conflicts will rise with neighbouring countries and communities fighting over it