South Africa will have a 17% water deficit by 2030 and unless urgent steps are taken to implement a basket of integrated solutions, the country’s next looming crisis will be severe water scarcity.
He said the region’s collective water supply was sitting at between 46% and 47% of its total capacity.
While the metro consumed 270 megalitres of water daily now, the daily water demand was projected to reach 375 megalitres by 2025. This higher demand, however, would be mitigated by initiatives being undertaken to reduce water consumption while growing water supply, Martin said.Addressing another longmooted solution – seawater desalination – Martin said: “Desalination is inevitable.”Martin said desalination was very expensive and water produced this way carried a higher per unit cost.
He also revealed that should a desalination plant be introduced, it would serve coastal areas, leaving inland areas to use their own water sources.“This is because the western portions of the metro have the greater need to access new water sources,” he said. The future water supply “mix” would comprise a third from surface water, a third from ground water sources and a third from desalination.“Enforcing the message of reducing, reusing and recycling water is an important component of water supply management,” Martin said.
“We have to be in the consumer’s face all the time to change habits and reinforce the need to conserve water.
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