The Water Wheel May-June 2016

Abstract

Fluid Thoughts Fluid Thoughts The twenty year warning We are slowly emerging from what has been described as the highest impact El Niño event in twenty years. The associated drought has had a devastating impact locally and regionally in southern Africa, with our neighbour Zimbabwe in the third year of a drought event and Ethiopia facing the prospect of her worst famine in 50 years. The World Economic Forum pegged water crisis as the highest risk to the global economy in 2015, and Sub-Saharan Africa has realised that risk in a reality bite that will take us years to recover. What of the future? We have been reminded that the El Niño – La Niña cycles are regular, although the levels of severity are less predictable. The recent El Niño being of a much higher impact than its relatively mild predecessors after 1992. As a country, water security has become increasingly important in recent times and is a major focus of national policy.

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