In our first #WaterWednesday insert with Prof Anthony Turton from the University of the Free State’s Centre for Environmental Management, we considered raising dam walls as a means of increasing catchment. In this insert, he discusses how the government could better approach the country’s water woes.

South Africans use well above the global average of 173 litre of water per day. This is also largely due to leakage from ailing infrastructure.

The government has acknowledged that inadequate funding, vandalism, sewage losses, construction issues, lack of capacity and cooperation, as well as infrastructure deterioration continue to persist and that R89,8 billion more would be needed each year for the next 10 years to achieve water security.

“What the government needs to realise is that water is a technical problem that requires technical solutions. It's not a political matter. So it's not a question of getting a bunch of politicians into a room and getting them to make a decision,” said Turton.

About 50% of South Africa’s water is lost to leaks and broken pipes. “So no matter what you do on the supply side, until you fix up the distribution networks, I'm afraid you're not going to get it right.”

‘Biggest problem in South Africa is this command economy’

Turton said from an agricultural perspective, many of the agricultural and irrigation dams are extremely well run by farmer co-ops, water boards, and irrigation boards. “These people are experts at what they do, but now the government wants to get their hands on that as well. I think our biggest single problem in South Africa is this ‘command economy’, centralised control.”

South Africans use more than 173 litre of water per day. Photo: Getty Images

He believes there are many solutions and that the capital exists to address the problem, however, the private sector will hesitate to invest where there is bad governance.

“We need to start populating the decision-making hierarchy with technically competent people and then cutting their political ties. It's entirely doable but it's going to require political will.”

In our next episode, Turton has some advice for using water optimally.

OFM Agri dg