South Africa will run out of water very soon and government plans to counter this include sourcing water from the sea, spending R30-billion on supply infrastructure, forcing companies to conserve water and punishing wasteful culprits.
The Department of Water and Environmental Affairs is considering desalinating sea water and reusing effluent water to avert the crisis. The department has set an ambitious target of curbing water losses by at least 20 percent in the next five years.
Briefing the media in Parliament yesterday, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica lamented the amount of water lost through bad irrigation, leakages and theft.
Agriculture was responsible for the biggest water wastage, followed by industries and households.
The department would target farmers and industries - who consume 62 percent and 27 percent of all water respectively - for water conservation projects.
She urged farmers, industries and households to save water and said her department had come up with a framework that would ensure "sustainable" water supply in the future.
"We need to be prudent in the management of this resource, since the primary source is rainfall, which cannot be guaranteed by decree.
"We are working hard to ensure that there is security of supply to provide water for the growing economy as well as social development. If we adopt a 'do nothing' approach we may indeed run out of water," said Sonjica.
She promised to be "hard" on lawbreakers through the use of environmental and water police - Green and Blue Scorpions - and the specialised courts.
"We are adopting a zero tolerance approach on environment and water crimes and this campaign will be bolstered by our commitment to return environmental courts," said Sonjica.
The department would also spend R30-billion on the construction of 15 water infrastructure projects and increase water supply for domestic needs.
Another investment of R500-million to prevent leaks of sewage into rivers and improve water conservation in the Vaal and Umgeni rivers would be made.
The investment would also prevent illegal generation of water and prevent water-borne diseases in various communities, said Sonjica.
Water would be central to all future developments and companies would be forced to include water conservation as part of their environmental impact assessments.
"If the assessments don't have water as the centre of the development, we will not accept applications for developments. If a mine has submitted an application for a licence with an assessment that does not have the water factor in it, we will reject it," said Sonjica.