Water Wheel January-February 2018

Abstract

Carpe Diem – Time to design a new water future I write this from the 2017 International Water Association (IWA) Water and Development Congress in Argentina, where 2 000 delegates from 30 countries have gathered. There is consensus that globally, water security is declining. This is backed up by barometers such as the Global Risk Register compiled annually by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Water crisis has consistently been one of the top five risks to the global economy in recent times. This will come as no surprise to South Africans as we have belly-crawled under the barbed wire that was the worst El Niño event in more than twenty years. Our recovery has been at best sluggish, on the back of miserly post-drought rainfall patterns, so much so that at least one major metropolitan area – the City of Cape Town – has designated a Day Zero: the dreaded signal for extreme water rationing as the city reaches its highest level of water stress. While the City of Cape Town represents an extreme, many South African cities and towns are one poor rainfall season away from this scenario.

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