L Hendricks: Running Dry documentary film

6 November 2006

Dr Sibisi, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CSIR

Jane Seymour

Jim Thebaut

Sir Paul Lever

Distinguished guests

Programme Director

It is indeed an honour for me to address you at the premiere screening of
the documentary "Running Dry."

Southern Africa is a water stressed region. The link between social and
economic progress and the supply of safe drinking water is clear, and our
ability to manage our water resources in support of the much needed social and
economic development required by our region will determine whether we succeed
in bringing prosperity and creating a better life for our people.

The converse is equally clear, with lack of access to safe drinking water
and sanitation pushing people further into poverty and denying them a basic
human right. How do young children develop properly when they are not given
clean drinking water and run the risk of disease and illness? How do women and
children who live in squatter camps or shanty towns safely go to the bathroom
at night when their toilet is several hundred metres away, and they run the
risk of assault?

These are obvious questions but the challenge in dealing with these issues
is enormous, and it is imperative that we raise awareness on what can only been
seen as a 'humanitarian water crisis' for developing countries. This
documentary, "Running Dry," aims to create awareness on the extent of the
problem and the very real challenges faced by impoverished communities in the
developing world. It further helps us to understand the severity of the crisis
and presents a spectrum of solutions available to solve it.

One of the biggest challenges facing governments, particularly in water
stressed regions is how to respond to these needs so that enough water can be
made available from limited resources to meet the growing requirements, and
then to ensure that adequate infrastructure for water supply and sanitation
services is provided to all citizens from these resources.

For South Africa this response started with our constitution, which
guarantees the right to water for all and is supported by international
agreements, such as the Millennium Development Goals. From this starting point
of recognising provision of water services as a basic human right we as the
relevant government department are able to put in place the policies,
legislation, and institutional mechanisms so that these critical services are
delivered to our people. We are supported by our President who has given us
targets of achieving universal access to water by 2008 and sanitation by 2010;
as well as the Minister of Finance who has allocated resources towards
achieving these targets, as well as towards creating the bulk infrastructure
for building new dams and pipelines which are required to meet the increasing
demand for water.

This year I was able to attend the Stockholm International Water Week, and
one of the issues being discussed was the concern that we will start running
out of water in 20 years due to increasing demand and change in weather
patterns, as some have predicted. The message coming through was that if we
better manage our water resources we can avoid such a crisis. It is of course
necessary for us to respond to climate change issues and we look forward to
positive actions from the current discussions that are taking place in Kenya on
the new commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.

South Africa has developed a National Water Resource Strategy (2004), which
paints a clear picture of water scarcity in South Africa, with many of our
river catchments areas and regions already in a situation of stress, with water
requirements greater than local water resources can provide. There are,
however, some undeveloped water resources that can still be utilised in future.
Our water resources will therefore have to be very well managed and allocated
in order to make ends meet in the future.

Our National Water Resource Strategy sets out a number of management
approaches, which include:

1. Water efficiency: If water is not in plentiful supply it is all the more
important that it be used sparingly and efficiently. In recent years my
department has placed particular emphasis on the elimination of water wastage
and the increase of water-use efficiency by all user sectors. An article in the
Sunday Times, 5 November 2006, reports on the problem facing Johannesburg
Water, where it is believed that up to a third of the city's water supply is
being lost through leakages and water theft. This council is not alone and it
is critical that we deal with such issues urgently.

2. Water for people and development vs. water for the environment: We need to
achieve a fair and sustainable balance between reserving water for the
conservation of aquatic ecosystems on the one hand, and on the other, having
enough water to meet needs of people and the need for water to support economic
development. Water for nature and the environment is very important, but so is
the right of previously disadvantaged people to expect a better standard of
living in future.

3. Water sources: We must make optimal use of the limited surface and
groundwater resources that are at our disposal. It is envisaged that the
development and exploitation of groundwater resources will be productively
managed in future to make a significant contribution to improving the water
balance in many regions all over the country. We also need to start looking at
new technologies that can lower the costs and improve the quality of providing
water from the sea and in treatment of wastewater. The desalination of sea
water represents a virtually unlimited water resource, and with rapid advances
in desalination technology, as well as the depletion of conventional land-based
resources, it is an option that we need to explore further, especially for
coastal cities

4. Dams: The further development of surface water resources through the
building of more storage dams is necessary. The intermittent nature of river
flows in the country requires the provision of storage to make water available
at an acceptable level. More inter-basin or inter-regional transfer schemes
will also have to be provided to get water from places where viable dams can
still be built to where the water is required, mostly in the growing
metropolitan centres.

5. Information: We must ensure that we meet the ongoing need for good quality
water-related information. This includes the long-term monitoring and
assessment of water resources and water requirements to make certain that the
right water resource development and management decisions can be made when they
are needed.

Programme Director, ladies and gentlemen, in implementing our water policy
one of the priorities for my department has been to ensure that there is a
deepening of democracy in the allocation of water; and for local stakeholders
to have a say about matters that impact upon their lives is an important aspect
of a democratic society. To this end we have started establishing local
institutions known as Catchment Management Agencies which aim to foster more
localised water resource management through participative structures and
processes.

We all know that water is crucial for economic development and hence
Municipalities and Provincial Government need to be aware of the availability
of water within their respective areas in order to factor that in their
Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and provincial growth and development
strategies. It is, therefore, imperative for Provincial and Local Government to
play a direct role in the Catchment Management Agencies that are being
established.

Another important programme that my department is implementing is Water
Allocation Reform (WAR); this programme deals with water use for equity and
economic development purposes, is very dependent on a co-ordinated approach to
ensure that water of good quality and quantity is always available for our
citizens for these purposes. Apart from dealing with equity in water use among
the big water users, WAR also focuses on helping smaller users and poor people
use water productively to give them the opportunity to be able to participate
in the economy as well. It specifically deals with water use that goes beyond
domestic water provision. The WAR programme is currently gaining momentum in
its rollout across the country.

Ladies and gentlemen, as I mentioned already South Africa has prioritised
delivery of sanitation services, and through "Operation Gijima" we are
accelerating provision of sanitation to rural areas. The programme is designed
to create jobs in the process of eradicating the bucket latrine system. In
addition we are working with our colleagues in the Department of Education to
eliminate the backlog of sanitation in schools, which has been reduced from 4
300 in September 2004 to 2 118 by March this year.

We are also working very hard to ensure the delivery of water to our
communities, with 15 million more people now having access to water since 1994;
with approximately 1 million more people gaining access per annum, an amount
that will be increased as we move towards achieving our target of universal
access by 2010.

In addition, it is important to note that approximately 19,2 million of our
22,4 million poor people are currently receiving a basic allocation of 6
kilolitres per month of their water free of charge. While specific challenges
have been raised around the quantity of free basic water that is being
allocated to people, this policy is making a significant difference to the
lives of the poor.

Drinking water quality is critical to the well-being of all South Africans
and is therefore an important area of focus for my department. While South
Africa is maintaining a very high standard of water quality provided to people
living in the metropolitan and greater urban areas, it is important that we are
open about the challenges that exist in this area so that we are able to
effectively address them. To this end my department partnered with the Free
State Provincial Government and Local Authorities to pilot an electronic system
to monitor the quality of water; and the success of this joint effort has
resulted in more than 95% of the authorities in the Free State collecting the
data and complying with quality requirements. With the assistance of the CSIR,
this system is now being rolled out to the rest of the country so that in a
short period, all Water Services Authorities will have an electronic Drinking
Water Quality Management System.

To conclude, while much progress is being made in addressing the challenges
facing the water sector, there is a pressing need to increase awareness of
these and future challenges, specifically in support of public policy and
effective implementation of such policies.

We believe that the widespread screening of the "Running Dry" documentary
will support this cause and are grateful to the producer, sponsors and guests
for promoting this very important event.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry

6 November 2006

Source: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (http://www.dwaf.gov.za)