Pray for rain -- but prepare for drought

MORE than 80% of South Africans have not been affected, dams are still more than 60% full and 89% of all water schemes in the country are not affected — and because of this, the Department of Water and Sanitation has refused to label the current drought a crisis. There are “areas that are in crisis”, the department admits, but calling it a national water crisis would be “premature”.

But these statistics do not tell the story on the ground.

Farms across the Free State, Mpumalanga, North West, Limpopo and northern parts of KwaZulu-Natal this week were nothing more than dust bowls. These five provinces have been declared disaster areas.

The planting season for maize is meant to be under way, but some farmers have yet to prepare their fields because the ground is just too dry. If it does not rain soon — and the farmers say “soon” means in the next few days — many will not be able to plant at all. With no significant rainfall forecast before March, it will get worse before it gets better.

On top of this, many farmers have lost livestock en masse. In KwaZulu-Natal alone, more than 40 000 head of cattle are said to have died. Hundreds of farmers are considering selling the animals that remain before they, too, die.

This damage to the agricultural sector means food prices will be affected, putting more pressure on already strained South African households.

This represents a crisis, no matter how you look at it.

The government is looking at alternative sources to guarantee water security. Methods such as desalination of sea water, the reuse of effluent, treatment of acid mine water, better use of ground water, and increasing the capacity of existing dams are all being considered. Even the expensive possibility of building new dams is an option. While we must applaud the government for investigating these options, the reality is that they come too late.

One simple step would have been dealing with the 395 million cubic metres of water lost each year due to ageing and damaged infrastructure. This is enough water to fill 160 000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, and is more than double the capacity of the Hartbeespoort Dam. Just dealing with this would go a long way to removing the strain on the country’s water resources.

A lack of rain might be the chief cause of the current drought, but we could have, and should have, acted much sooner.