Good rains no guarantee for household water security

SA is experiencing wet conditions or above-average rainfall over large parts of the country. The multi-institutional Climate Advisory Group convened by the Water Research Commission made this prediction last year.

In the minds of many, more water captured in dams indicates water availability for the following seasons. This creates the false notion that there is across-the-board improvement of water security.

However, over 5.3 million households have no access to safe drinking water. About 63% of households have a reliable water supply service with household access to infrastructure at 89%.

Household water security clearly does not depend only on good rains and the availability of water in storage.

Dam statistics look healthy for the 222 dams where data is available. Provincial dam levels range from 56% to 129% of full storage capacity (FSC). Gauteng has the smallest storage capacity and Free State the largest. These statistics are averaged for the monitored dams, spread across the provinces.

There are 320 large dams in the system with several thousand smaller dams, making up the water storage capacity in SA. The 222 dams with readily available data do not reflect the full water in storage situation. If we break down the statistics to dam level, the fallacy of averages emerges. Of the 222 dams, 12 dams are around 10% of FSC with five dams at 0% (dry).

A total of 88 dams are above 100%. The provincial statistics might give the impression that these areas are water-secure. But what about settlements serviced by dams with limited storage and availability?

Sometimes, water may be supplied from groundwater (13% of SA’S water supply is from groundwater), but details are not well known owing to poor monitoring of these disparate groundwater schemes. The scale and resolution of information are important to understand water security at the local level.

Water in storage is a good example of a measure that leaves out key environmental, social, economic, and technical externalities such as water quality, infrastructure reliability and integrity, unequal access, management competency and affordability.

Household water security is a function of what happens at the source of water (dam, aquifer, desalinisation plant), how it is distributed, and how it is used at the point of use.

Water security dimensions at the source may include the quantity of water, storage capacity, climate change and weather variability, source access (infrastructure and allocation) and management of the source.

Living next to a water supply source is no guarantee for water security, as evidenced by several schemes where pipelines pass communities on their way to those allocated the water.

The conveyance systems between the source and point of use depend on access to the source, reliability, affordability, energy costs and infrastructure integrity (water losses) among others.

Point of use indicators are water quality, quantity, uses, affordability, and consumption requirements. All this is enveloped in competing drivers and pressures such as climate change, rapid urbanisation, economic expansion and population growth.

Water insecurity also affects food security, health, and sanitation services. Land-use planning and especially settlement planning without due regard for infrastructure layout and conveyance energy costs determine affordability and access. Integrated planning, across sectors and levels of government, is key to ensuring household water security.

In highly urbanised areas water supply and interruptions are minimal but in the more rural spaces water insecurity can be severe.

A settlement is next to a dam but the dam’s water is allocated to an irrigation scheme. The settlement has yard taps, but the community has had no reliable supply in a decade. This specific community has resorted to a community self-supply scheme.

They had to find a reliable source which is naturally protected from contamination and install infrastructure at their own cost, labour and knowhow.

The scheme is operated and maintained by an appointed person, supported by community members and enabled by household contributions. They solve leaks and interruptions in hours. They manage water quality at household level in relation to intended use. Boiling and bleach are used for the home and unimproved water for food gardens and livestock.

A key component of water security is the community ownership, where vandalism is nonexistent, unlike in many municipal operated systems.

This is not how water security is perceived in a developed urban setting and a valuable lesson is that through co-management and co-ownership water security can be improved through localised governance provisions.

Sustainable and safe household water provisioning should be based on water security principles to the lowest supply unit within an overall national water security framework.

Alternative supply sources and technologies should be embraced at household level in areas not serviced by bulk infrastructure. An additional set of metrics must be developed to assess causes of water insecurity and managed accordingly.

Elements are already captured in the Statsa Household Surveys. Locally and globally we already have significant research concentration, knowhow and technologies. It now requires technical and policy integration.

To make this shift, there is a need to review and amend bylaws and regulations to ensure provisioning is maintainable. There is an urgent need for a paradigm shift in our water supply approaches and option biases to ensure water security to meet the challenges of the future coupled with user awareness and training.

Water insecurity also affects food security, health, and sanitation services