National Water Summit

Abstract

Water is the lifeblood of both the economy as well as our personal well-being. This axiom is revisited and re-confirmed every day in our country and around the world. We have the three-dimensional challenge of servicing an increasing and developing population; meeting the needs of a water-intensive economic growth pathway; and dealing with the vagaries of the water challenges associated with climate change in an already water scarce South Africa. In addition, like many developing countries and now even some OECD states, we have a backlog on both safe sanitation, and to a slightly lesser degree, safe water access. Newly appointed Minister of Water and Sanitation, Novula Mokonyane, in her budget speech to Parliament on 15 July, talked about the mandate of this fifth democratic administration being “to move South Africa forward through radical socio-economic transformation.

Categories