By: Dhesigen Naidoo

The South African water community is once again seized by a critical national conversation. The draft second National Water Resources Strategy (NWRS-2) has been gazetted for public comment.

The discussions have been vibrant, infor- mative and passionate in many forums, including Parliament, where the portfolio committee on water and the environment hosted four days of public hearings during the last two weeks of October.

Why is the conversation so important? Why have the levels of engagement been so high? After all, this is not a law or a new policy – it is just a five-year strategy demanded as a compliance requirement of the National Water Act – or is it? In several ways, for many, this is, 16 years later, the follow-up to the national dialogue led by former Water Affairs Minister Kader Asmal, which led to the promulgation of the National Water Act in 1998.

The review that preceded the development of the NWRS-2 is also timely. After 18 years in this fledgling democracy, characterised by continuous positive economic growth, popu- lation growth and tremendous extension of basic services to the previously marginalised majority, all of which has been highly water intensive, we have stretched our resources.

Much of this has been done in a very carbon- intensive paradigm. Add to this mix the fact that some 200 years of poor mining and other industrial practices have finally come home to roost in the most dramatic way with the poisoning of our vital aquifers through acid mine drainage and related factors, and the picture that emerges points in one direction – the burden on our water ecosystems has reached Gaia’s limits and Mother Earth is expressing her displeasure.

We are at a fork in the road and the choices we make now will affect not only the next five years (until the NWRS-3 is developed), but also the next 50 years, as the knock-on effects will be profound.

During the discourse thus far, the notion of a South Africa in a water crisis has been raised in many quarters and was, in fact, the lead question in a Department of Water Affairs-sponsored Mail and Guardian Critical Thinkers Forum in October. Several countries that have lower natural water reserves and lower precipitation patterns, compared with ours, are not spoken about in the same terms – why? These countries and regions have been able to ensure their water security when many with much higher rainfall figures and much better storage options have not – this is based on four factors.

Firstly, the water management in these more successful areas is informed by high levels of science, technology and innovation. The decision-making is highly informed and water is a critical upfront consideration in any development plan. The second is good, well maintained infrastructure. The third is the development and availability of large pools of skilled talent to plan, develop, operate and maintain the water management system at all levels. The fourth, and in many cases differentiating, factor in most systems is water use behaviour across the spectrum – from large industry and agriculture to the individual at household level.

As is the case with electricity use, individual behavi- our changes have an accumulative and almost immediate impact on the system, both positively and negatively.

What is differ- ent about water from electricity are the reuse possibilities. That single litre of water can be used several times with the proper system design.

The Water Research Commission (WRC) and the South African water research community have, over the past 40 years, developed a knowledge repository that ensures that the NWRS-2 and its successors have a natural research and development (R&D) partner. The WRC believes strongly that a NWRS-2 that is developed further and implemented with strong scientific support, good social dynamics analysis and innovative technological and systems solutions is the pathway to ensuring a wetter South Africa with much more comfortable levels of water security than the current trajectories extrapolate.

This will also create the virtuous cycle of R&D informing and ensuring good water management decisions and practice, which, in turn, will lead to the further development of water research and the growth of the water research community through higher R&D investment and partnership in South Africa.

Attainment of the goals that matter – equity of access and water as an enabler of growth and sustainable development – depends on us achieving this with a strong partnership between science and the economy.

Naidoo is CEO of South African Water Research Commission - dhesn@wrc.org.za