As a water-stressed country, South Africa is embarking on an economic pathway that is water intensive, reports water research and development organisation the Water Research Council (WRC).

The rapid population growth and the continuing degradation of South Africa’s water courses through overuse, pollution and development that compromises ecological infrastructure are threatening the future of the country’s water resources, cautions WRC CEO Dhesigen Naidoo.

Naidoo, who spoke at international inte- grated energy and chemicals company Sasol’s Water Sense conference last month at the Emerald Resort & Casino, in Vanderbijlpark, noted that other countries with a lower rainfall than South Africa had successfully secured their water supply by implementing some simple solutions.

“This includes water decision-making at all levels being informed by good water science and technology. This should not be a problem for South Africa as our water research community – although small – is highly productive.

“South Africa contributes 1.7% to the global publications relating to water, while, in comparison, the country, overall, contributes only 0.5% to the global scientific research publication community,” stated Naidoo, adding that South Africa was ranked nineteenth in the world for water research on the Institute of Science Index (ISI).

However, he pointed out that South Africa only ranked thirty-third in the world on the ISI with regard to research in all scientific disciplines.

Conversely, Naidoo noted that South Africa was one of the few countries in the world that had a dedicated national water research and development agency in the form of the WRC.

He emphasised the need for adequately built and well-maintained water infrastructure in the country, while pointing out that the South African National Infrastructure Plan, which government adopted in 2012 under the Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPs) section, declared that one of the priorities for South Africa’s development would be a focus on water and sanitation.

“Another critical factor that is required is knowledgeable people at all levels of the water chain management. This area [presents] great challenges for South Africa, but we have seen encouraging signs in the science and technology domain,” Naidoo said, adding that the WRC had managed to support the training of 500 master’s and PhD students through its projects each year.

The WRC research portfolio is also adjusting to train and mentor new research leaders.

“In the WRC’s last round of new projects, we managed to ensure, without any compromise on standards, that 47% of research leaders on new projects came from the designated groups and that most are younger than 50 years,” said Naidoo.

He pointed out that this assisted with the National Transformation Project and building the next generation of researchers, noting that 22% of the WRC’s projects in the current round would be performed by small, medium-size and microenterprises.

However, Naidoo said the real game- changer would be the changing behaviour of South Africans in terms of individual and collective water use.

“When we change our car’s oil at home and throw the old oil down the drain, we have an immediate negative multiplier effect on water resources. This is because every 1 ℓ of oil that goes into the water system will use one-million litres of water to dilute its negative effects sufficiently,” explained Naidoo.

He said, when corporate citizens like Sasol made behaviour changes to improve the efficiency of any one of their water- intensive processes by 1%, the increased water availability in the system was in the region of millions of litres of water.

Meanwhile, in two separate collaboration agreements, also signed and launched at its Water Sense conference, Sasol undertook to promote water conservation and improve treatment technologies and the reuse of wastewater in South Africa.

As a large industrial water user, Sasol has formed strategic partnerships with the Department of Basic Education in the Free State, the Department of Water Affairs and the WRC.

The partnership between Sasol Technology and the WRC entails that both parties collaborate on finding new technologies and opportunities to conserve water in South Africa.

Sasol Technology will offer the use of some of its research and development (R&D) piloting facilities in Sasolburg and Secunda to researchers and academics from the WRC to conduct research in conjunction with the Sasol Technology team.

This partnership will also establish a joint research commission, which will oversee and monitor the partnership and seek out new opportunities for collaboration on other water conservation matters.

The Sasol-WRC agreement will include collaboration in the following key research areas: climate change; water resource availability and accessibility; catchment management and water quality improvement; water footprinting and best practices for the private and public sectors; water conservation and water demand management; technological development for the treatment and management of water, wastewater and residual by-products; residual by-product treatment and management; ecosystems remediation and rehabilitation; and groundwater impact, vulnerability and remediation.

“Through this partnership, we want to fortify our science, technology and inno- vation partnership to ensure a higher input of knowledge and workable technolo- gies to empower responsible water citizenship at all levels [to promote] a water successful future. We are also confident that, with the huge support of national and provincial governments, we have the right partnership formula to ensure its sustain- ability,” concluded Naidoo.