JACQUES LAUBSCHER Business and society must change from viewing water as a service to viewing it as a limited commodity worthy of careful management
While water conservation and demand management are not practised widely enough in South Africa, incentives can improve private-sector water management, and water-stewardship requirements can improve municipal water management, says engineering firm GIBB Integrated Infrastructure sector senior associate Jacques Laubscher.
Inadequate water management is exacerbating the current water restrictions and stress in municipal water systems, and leaks and nonrevenue losses are a consequence of poor water management.
The perception of business and society must change from viewing water as a service to viewing it as a limited commodity worthy of careful management. Further, because water can only be delivered and sold at a set price, active stewardship, water-use management and effective operation and maintenance of infrastructure are crucially important to ensure sustainable water systems.
The most effective way of driving water conservation and demand management in the private sector is to incentivise the adoption and use of systems and practices to manage, save and reuse water, he avers.
The only way to improve revenue gained from water is through practising the principles of conservation and loss management. This requires that municipalities do water profiling and understand the demands on the water system.
“Further, owing to the mismatch between inadequate capacity and increasing demand from growing populations, many of the water reticulation networks have to be upgraded and expanded to accommodate additional demand. However, infrastructure development is of limited value without good water management,” says Laubscher.
He suggests South Africa develop a closed-loop water-reuse system, where wastewater is treated to a sufficient standard to be sent directly to the water treatment plant for treatment.
“Direct reuse of water will reduce the costs associated with water and wastewater treatment, improve the revenue gained by municipalities and reduce the negative impacts of poorly treated wastewater on societies and the environment.”
A crucial requirement for direct reuse is effective monitoring and safety checks. Many South African water treatment plants are currently treating water drawn from polluted rivers to drinking standard and such direct reuse does not pose a significant problem.
“However, regardless of the water management initiatives implemented, the core objectives remain the effective management of water sources and water infrastructure. The key challenges remain skills and access to skills in munici- palities and water departments in the country.”
Driving municipal water management practices requires a two-pronged approach by stipulating water management requirements that municipalities have to meet before receiving water funding allocation, which ensures a minimum level of skills in municipal water departments, and national skills sharing and skills pooling initiatives to provide access to such skills.
A national pool of skilled water practitioners, as proposed by Laubscher earlier this year, and a system of tertiary education water internships can be used to provide a steady influx of and access to skills for these municipalities and regions.
“While I was training to be an engineer, I visited a large number of municipalities and water projects around the country, developing a much deeper insight into the challenges and context of water treatment and management,” he says. Such experience can be a requirement of student internship programmes, with students being allowed to work in regions close to their families, where possible, and potentially providing an accommodation and living-out stipend.
New knowledge and asset management laws are coming into force this year and will dramatically change the way municipalities are required to operate and maintain their fixed and mobile assets.
Laubscher explains that the new laws will require municipalities, regardless of their capacity, to pay close attention to the operation and maintenance of assets to ensure their long-term effectiveness; this should include mandating that portions of grant funding be allocated to the operations and maintenance of assets.
“We advise that municipalities prepare and renew their water management programmes in collaboration with regional water boards, where appropriate, as well as civil society and local businesses to meet these new regulatory requirements,” he concludes.