Water resources: New skills are needed to manage aquatic systems

09 March 2010, Business Report
URL: http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=553&fArticleId=5382466

Johannesburg:  Understanding and managing the disconnect between effective water resource management and the need for economic growth requires new sets of skills in all spheres of government, water management institutions and the private sector. In South Africa, this is still lacking in many respects.

As an example, the southern Cape is in the grip of severe water crisis and part of the region has been declared a disaster zone. But even as this calamity was unfolding a multibillion-rand project to build a luxury resort with two water-guzzling 18-hole golf courses was launched in George.

Despite the promise of job creation, isn't it bluntly obvious that this is a very poor investment decision?

The water crisis in the southern Cape is not going to go away anytime soon, and if you add the potential threats posed by climate change, then you realise that we are just digging a very deep hole for ourselves.

Most of us are aware that South Africa is a water scarce country. So much has been said about the country's impending water crisis and the impact on livelihoods, business and overall economic growth, if the country's limited water resources are not managed properly.

The latest study released by the consulting group McKinsey & Company on South Africa's water situation shows that we need to invest at least R2.8 billion a year in water resource management to prevent severe water shortages by 2030.

There is also a relatively good understanding of the challenges to effective water resource management in the country, such as the need for infrastructure maintenance, efficient water use and maintaining aquatic systems in good condition in order to generate the vital goods and services that we derive from them.

South Africa is lauded globally for its robust water legislation, which guarantees everyone access to water to meet their basic needs, and also ensures that aquatic ecosystem functions and processes are sustained to maintain a well functioning environment. These are milestones that have seldom been achieved elsewhere, and which have firmly placed South Africa as a leader in the field of integrated water resource management.

But when it comes to implementing the ideals and values espoused in our legislation, and the constitution, we fail dismally. And so we have to ask, why?

The lack of capacity is obviously one of the major causes of this poor record of implementation. The devolution of water resource management to local authorities, which is a key requirement of the National Water Act, has been very slow.

Of the 19 catchment management agencies that were to be established for managing water in their respective catchments, less than three are fully operational more than a decade since the act came into effect.

The National Water Act also ushered in a new system of water resource management that requires a paradigm shift from the old approach of command and control, where nature was perceived as a system that we can manipulate to meet our goals, to one which is full of uncertainty and limitations, and needs to be managed as such. Unfortunately, this new thinking has not been fully entrenched in water resource management in South Africa.

I once overheard a local water manager lament: "There is no water resource management without dams."

Granted, infrastructure development is vital, but we need to have a holistic view to water resource management that goes beyond relying solely on engineering solutions to one where the natural functions of the system are harnessed.

This is the most cost-effective means to cope with increased water demand and to combat the threat posed by climate change.

Water resource managers are also increasingly faced with the challenge of making very complex and technical decisions with often limited information on issues such as the protection of the aquatic resource, issuing of water licences, and the promotion of economic growth and efficient use. To effectively address these issues often requires managers to be multi-skilled practitioners with the ability to engage in unfamiliar areas of expertise.

South Africa is facing a very uncertain water future and the prevailing approach of business as usual is set to lead us down the drain, so to speak.

We need strong leadership from both the business sector and civil society to steer us clear of this course. This is a massive challenge that requires new skills and rules of engagement that are rarely found in any classroom or boardroom.

To overcome this predicament, the World Wide Fund for nature (WWF) has started a new programme on integrated catchment management to address some of the challenges outlined in this article.

Additionally, businesses are being encouraged to invest in initiatives that will lead to sustainable water resource management, such as capacity building and aquatic stewardship.

Morné du Plessis, the chief executive of WWF South Africa, once said that South Africa had "literally become a nation of dripping tap watchers" because of our failure to deal with water as a finite resource.

For us to move away from this dangerous scenario to one that will ensure the security of this life support system requires a concerted effort between major role players to help develop the skills and capacity for a grassroots movement that will take hold of securing South Africa's water resources.

*  Mao Amis is the manager of WWF South Africa's integrated catchment management programme.