Pollution of SA's water resources is ticking time bomb

Situation is grim but not beyond reversal provided people change behaviour

- BONANI MADIKIZELA

THE statistical records, currently in South Africa, show that more than 63% of the population survive below the poverty line, unemployment is estimated at 31.9%, with both situations getting worse by the day.

In addition our country's economy is hovering around 0.1%, a projection of hardship in most families. Water is a basic constitutional human right, meaning people have a right to a clean and healthy environment. What is not in human rights though is the responsibility of humans to care for the same environment, it can only be assumed.

An estimated 71.8% of urban residents have access to safely managed water, with only 36.7% in rural areas. It is also estimated that one in five people in South Africa have access to safe and managed sanitation.

It is also reported in the DWS green drop that about 84% of the wastewater treatment plants are not functioning properly. Only 12.2% of the more than 300 large dams are in a healthy state, i.e. oligotrophic, with most at hypertrophic state, a situation that is expanding into rivers, such as the Vaal River system. In fact more than 75% of our rivers and wetlands nationally are highly threatened by pollution.

The DWS projection is that by 2030, the country will experience 17% over allocation of available water, which will intensify competition for this limited resource in a water scarce country.

The global projections point at 70% of the population will have migrated to urban areas by 2050. The urbanisation challenge will only exacerbate the extent of ecosystem degradation, which is a disaster since all economic development relies heavily on healthy ecosystems and water.