Climate change is increasingly finding its way back onto the global agenda, this time with the focus on its impact in the Water sector. Sustainable water supply needs to be secured for over 250 million people in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), with Construction companies playing a major part in achieving this imperative.

“Water is the ultimate enabler of living and in Southern Africa we do not have high levels of water security. Added to that, we depend highly on shared fresh water resources, with two or more Member States sharing more than 70% of these,” says Elaine Crewe, CEO of BAUMA CONEXPO AFRICA. “Construction companies can play a proactive part in addressing this risk.”

Patrick Hulley, Managing Director of Wilo Pumps SA who will be exhibiting at IFAT Environmental Technology Forum Africa says, “It is absolutely crucial for companies to manage the available water resources effectively and to ensure that they participate in a well-defined water management strategy. Yet there is much room for improvement in the definition and implementation of such strategies, which are also a key factor in Corporate Social Responsibility.”

Some of the challenges within the Water sector in SADC, pointed out by Hulley include the increased demand for potable water, a lack of understanding surrounding the consequences of not managing water resources effectively, a further lack of maintenance practices and a lag in new technology acceptance.

BAUMA CONEXPO AFRICA, international trade fair for Construction Machinery, Building Material Machines, Mining Machines and Construction Vehicles will cover the water debate by focusing on environmental technology through hosting IFAT Environmental Technology Forum Africa. This forum, says Crewe, will bring together suppliers and consumers of innovative solutions and technologies in the areas of water, sewage, refuse and recycling and focus on solutions for the Mining and Construction industry.

Improving the current state of water security is broadly accepted as a global priority. “Water scarcity has been rated as one of the top five issues in the world,” highlights the Infrastructure Dialogues Report titled Water and Sanitation: Municipal Water and Sanitation Infrastructure (February 2015). While the World Economic Forum Global Risks 2015 report points to water crises as being the foremost global risk in terms of impact.

According to the Africa Rising report by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), there are 15 shared rivers in SADC, which account for 78% of all water resources. “Continued cooperation is therefore vital,” states the report, an approach to managing shared water resources that SADC leaders believe has “been the basis for the development and adoption of a series of regional instruments to support the joint management and development of shared water courses.”

The FCO states: “The Human Dynamics of Climate Change map indicates that by the end of the century the region will face an over 20% decrease in water runoff into rivers; at least a 20% increase in drought days; and a 20% increase in demand for irrigation. All of this points to greater water insecurity for the region ahead. Government officials increasingly see the impact of climate change as a security issue.”

SADC countries have also experienced an increase in temperatures, especially the minimum temperatures. In a Policy Paper on Climate Change, it is said that “between 1950 and 2000, Namibia experienced warming at a rate of 0.023 degrees Celsius per year (Government of Namibia, 2002); similarly Botswana received warming at a rate of 0.017 degrees Celsius per year.”

Projections have been put forward that even if the GHG emissions were to be stopped today, the temperatures in the region are expected to warm by between 1.0 and 3.0 degrees Celsius by 2080.

Providing further perspective from SADC itself, in a Report titled Climate Change Adaptation in SADC: A Strategy for the Water Sector, Dr Tomáz Augusto Salamão, Executive Secretary, Southern African Development Community, says: “It is very clear that water is central to climate change impact which then affects other sectors which play vital roles in keeping the human race and supporting ecosystems intact.”

But being bullish in this sector, Crewe points out that companies operating in the region are increasingly investing to mitigate against this risk. The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Water Report 2014 for example, notes that over two thirds of Global 500 companies reporting to the CDP last year “faced substantive water risks, therefore investing to conserve, manage or obtain water has become crucial for some sectors.”

Crewe concludes: “Construction companies are a big part of the action taking place, as they look to responsibly manage their heavy reliance on water. Companies in these two sectors are critical voices in decisions being taken around regional action.

There is much to be shared, planned and collectively implemented, from water infrastructure to skills development and development of cost effective water management technologies.”