Parched prospects: The emerging water crisis in South Africa

Abstract

Water resource management The first National Water Resource Strategy (NWRS1) was released in 2004 as a blueprint for water resource management and as one of the requirements of the 1998 National Water Act. The NWRS1 provided quantitative information about the present and future availability of and requirements for water in each of the 19 water management areas until 2025. The NWRS2 is the second edition of the report. It seeks to ‘ensure that national water resources are managed towards achieving South Africa’s growth, development and socio-economic priorities in an equitable and sustainable manner over the next five to ten years’ . The NWRS2 provides hard targets for increasing water supply for each of the recently promulgated nine water management areas. Among its many goals, the National Development Plan sets the following interrelated targets: all South Africans should have access to clean running water in their homes by 2030, South Africa should achieve a food trade surplus; and the country should produce sufficient energy.

Authors

Categories