The South African government’s strategy for overcoming water management challenges up to 2015 includes water conservation as well as demand-side management. The local water sector is combining efforts to put these and other worthy plans into action.
It’s a known fact that South Africa ranks as one of the world’s most water-stressed countries, with an average rainfall of just 464mm (compared to a world average of about 860mm). What is not yet fully known is the effect climate change will have on this figure, although a number of municipalities around the country have already begun implementing mitigation measures. Further accentuating the country’s existing water scarcity is the ingress of pollutants into the national supply. Causes range from poorly performing wastewater treatment plants, stormwater runoff containing solid waste and hydrocarbons, acidic mine water contamination, increased carbon-based energy production and agricultural runoffMethods for comprehensive water quality management and conservation are numerous – from organisations dedicated to research better ways to manage water, to technologies designed specifically to measure and reticulate water with minimum non-revenue water losses.
Water&Sanitation Africa invited water treatment service providers and professionals from Buckman Africa, Safequip and Quality Filtration Systems to provide insights into their contribution to quality water management. Read more here.
