Ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, friends and all, greetings to you and all protocol observed. I also understand that there are international speakers and presenters – you are all welcome to South Africa.
On behalf of the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Ms Buyelwa Sonjica, I wish to apologise for her not being able to come today. The minister has left for Brazil on an official visit and I was asked to present to you.
It is indeed a pleasure for me to be here today, to speak to you at the beginning of this conference and exhibition on sustainable water resources focusing on solutions for South Africa. I guess it is also befitting that this day is the same day that the Portfolio Committee on Water and Environmental Affairs starts its site visits to selected parts of the country on Acid Mine Drainage and Hartebeespoort dam pollution management and rehabilitation - this being a follow up to the presentations that took place last week in Parliament.
As usual what followed these engagements were headlines of doom and gloom of our water world’s nearing its end and so on. Yet we forget that South Africa has never really had enough water and this has been known for decades. Not enough water to go around, let alone water to allow for dilution, especially in areas where it is most needed where there is high level of activities. Some of us have been insisting that focus must be on solutions and innovation.
In this presentation, let me refrain from giving you so-called hard facts and numbers of successes and failure and so on. We can leave these to the engagements that will follow.
Ladies and gentleman let me dare say that in fact by shouting water crisis we are probably missing the real point in that all that is done to ensure security of supply is done largely on the basis of this fundamental understanding that the country is generally not endowed with water resources.
With increased development pressure, we are bound to have serious challenges of increased pollution and higher demands on water supply whichever angle we look at it – infrastructure development and maintenance, resource protection, water services provision, climate change impact, water and energy, water governance, water pricing and so on.
We can indeed argue about concepts and theoretical constructs of the business of water, however, the bottom line is that we have no choice except judiciously managing the resources and ensure provision of the services in a manner that improves the lives of our people in a sustainable manner. The level of awareness of conservation and demand management has to increase significantly if we are to succeed.
We can also not afford complacency resulting from the fact that those of us who are able to get together in these very beautiful facilities, drinking bottled water and enjoying the networking atmosphere, form a small part of our society. A great number of our people remain with limited access to water and other basic necessities. The link of water to all aspects of our lives need not be overemphasised.
I recall in these very same facilities when a few years ago, the department lead a process of stakeholder engagement on Water Allocation Reform (WAR). In this meeting I recall the exchanges we had with community representatives and was interested to see that by and large our people are well aware of water issues and that we should involve them in many ways. In hindsight, we probably could have done more since then.
Our debates and discussions should also reflect on these very critical aspects of our societal needs that include bringing into the sector those that have previously been marginalised and ensuring that the tools that were created to achieve these goals are put into effect. I strongly believe it is not just a matter of policy and legislation but can also be seen as simply good economics or economic sense. Water, however limited, can be a catalyst for social and economic development. It is a key connector to livelihoods and development.
As many of you will be aware, the department is stepping up the regulatory regime and focussing on programmes that are aimed at improving the quality and availability of water for various needs. The
blue drop, the green drop and monitoring and enforcement initiatives are all part of this process.
We have heard in the past that our water policy and legislation ranks among the best in the world. However, implementation of these policies has been a serious challenge. It is through engagements like this conference that will take us far. There is a clear need for us as a country, including the international community, business sector and all to work in partnerships to ensure that we succeed in implementation. While at it, I recall a colleague once saying something to the effect that “restating the problem several times may remind you of the problem but it will not bring you any closer to the solution”.
Indeed in preparing for this presentation, I took notice of the thematic areas covered by the presentations from infrastructure, water efficiency, climate change, water-business relationship, water treatment issues and so on. These are very critical issues to be dealt with at this level. I must confess though that for me personally, it is somewhat daunting to talk to you who very often qualify to be captains of the industry so-to-speak.
However, I find solace in the fact that I have been privileged to have not only been part of the water policy development and saw the first edition of the National Water Resources Strategy (NWRS) in 2004, but currently involved with the review of the strategy. As stated in your publication material, “Technology, management, infrastructure development, planning, partnerships, governance, education, engineering and publicity are all required for a comprehensive Sustainable water resource plan that involves government, business and consumers.
The current review of the National Water Resources Strategy draws significantly from the engagements the department has had as part of water for growth and development process with sub-strategies covering aspects of desalination, the so-called water mix, national groundwater strategy, information and technology innovation, and so on. I’m sure this conference will go a long way to inform the department in it’s effort to review the strategy and charting our water future. The list of invitees is cross-cutting from national to local government level and water industry from suppliers, users, practitioners and researchers. This bodes well in that it indeed represents a significant part of the sector.
This presentation would not be complete if I do not specifically speak to the issue of education and capacity building in the sector. I have taken note of the fact that one of the targeted participants in this conference is tertiary institutions stakeholders. As someone who has taught at college and university in my past life, and having worked in the scientific services environment, I can perhaps speak on this with some level of authority and better understanding of the situation.
For us to tackle the future challenges in the water sector we need to ensure that capacity is built in various fronts. Some of you may be aware that a few years ago, the department had to establish a learning academy to develop capacity – the reality is that like many sectors, all the different thematic areas that are covered in this conference for instance require a strong cadre of new and young leaders to take us beyond where we may be today.
We need to actively ensure that the critical mass is deliberately and consciously increased as the complexity of the environment we are dealing with increase all the time. This we must do as a matter of course. The significance of this, especially to supply skills to local government cannot be overemphasised. The fact that we are stepping up implementation means that we have to increase the critical mass across all skills levels and requirements. As you may be aware many studies have shown this very critical gap which we must urgently address.
Let me conclude with what I think the minister would wish – that your deliberations be another milestone, a key contribution to building solutions and support decision making in these very important aspects of our development as a country and continent. We cannot afford to flounder.
I wish you all the success in your deliberations during these two days and look forward to the outcome of the conference. I can assure you that the department will be following the results very closely.
I thank you.
Source: Department of Water Affairs
