“The next big conflicts in Africa will be on water usage” was the chilling prediction made earlier this year by the recently departed Dr Lawrence Musaba of the Southern African Power Pool and last year’s recipient of the African Utility Week Lifetime Achievement Award.

“The food-energy-water nexus is becoming a challenge for Africa”, Dr Musaba said, “and African energy pioneers should find a way of how to deal with this dilemma as the population of Africa keeps growing.

“The demand for water and food is growing, but at the same time we need electricity from hydropower stations to power the industry and as a result, the scramble for water is becoming a huge challenge.”

South Africa’s National Water Week kicked off earlier this week and will culminate in the final international World Water Day on 22 March.

“Water, while once an abundant natural resource, has become a scarce and therefore more valuable commodity due to droughts and overuse”, says African Utility Week event director Evan Schiff, adding: “Water utilities have to explore both innovative and alternative water supply options in order to meet rapid growth in urban demand, including wastewater reuse, grey water recycling, storm water, rain water harvesting and seawater desalination.”

Strong focus on all aspects of water

This year’s African Utility Week in Cape Town in May will have a particularly strong focus on water, from the water-energy nexus, resource management, water efficiency to wastewater management.

Some of the featured experts who will address the conference sessions include the following:

• Henk Ovink, Special Envoy for International Water Affairs, Kingdom of the Netherlands, and featured keynote speaker at African Utility Week
• Dr Nicole Kranz, Country Coordinator South Africa: International Water Stewardship Programme, GIZ-South Africa
• Titus Cohen Kasie, Mechanical Engineer, eThekwini Water and Sanitation (EWS) & Centre of Expertise.
• Dhesigen Naidoo, CEO, Water Research Commission – supporting association.
• Dr. Eng Silver Mugisha, MD, National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) – the utility also won the coveted African Water Utility of the Year Award at last year’s 2015 African Utility Week Awards in Cape Town.

The 16th African Utility Week and Clean Power Africa conference and trade exhibition returns to Cape Town from 17-19 May – gathering some 6000 engineers, stakeholders and solution providers from around the globe.

The event will feature 250 exhibitors, 250 speakers, a six stream strategic conference, a free-to-attend technical conference on the expo floor, three high-profile keynote sessions, technical site visits and the coveted industry awards gala dinner. The Water CEO Forum will be an opportunity to discuss challenges and share best practice for high-level water utility executives.