Water security in South Africa: perceptions on public expectations and municipal obligations, governance and water re-use

Abstract

South Africa is a water-scarce country with increasing pressure on its water resources. Urgent interventions are needed to protect water security within this rapidly developing country. This paper reports on an interdisciplinary Water Security Colloquium, convened by the South African Young Academy of Science in 2014. A selected group of water professionals from academia, civil society and local government was brought together to discuss water security under three focus themes: ‘public expectations and municipal obligations’ , ‘water security and governance: challenges and advances’ , and ‘water re-use: health and infrastructural considerations’ . Participant perceptions were generated using a focus group methodology, combined with participatory data collection methods. Under each theme, inputs were categorised as ‘challenges’ , ‘gaps in knowledge’ , and ‘solutions/recommendations’ and these inputs were thereafter ranked in order of importance via a ‘voting’ process.

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