Western Cape Premier Helen Zille has warned that the water crisis is not over yet. Zille was speaking at a water conference underway in Cape Town.
Various experts from the Southern Africa have gathered in Cape Town for a four day conference to discuss ways of co-operation in an ongoing efforts to save water.
The conference of the Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA) takes place under the theme “Breaking Boundariies, Connecting Ideas”. The meeting will address current and future water resources challenges.
The average dam levels across the province are at 36 %.
Premier Zille says saving water remains crucial.
“The crisis isn’t over is the unpredictability, climate change is real, weather patterns are changing, and we have to be able to become at short notice to adapt our behaviour which Cape Town has shown it can do and equality become resilient so that these event don’t knock us as badly as we were knocked the last six months.”
WISA’s Lester Goldman says, “This years conference is especially relevant given the attention and focus placed on water in terms of its scarcity across the Southern African region. WISA is proud to be leading as we explore new technologies, processes and advancements in researches.
Water and Sanitation Minister Gugile Nkwinti has announced a new strategy to deal with challenges facing the water sector in the country. He says South Africa is the 30th driest country in the world. Nkwinti says the conference is a vital forum for exchange of information and views to improve water resource management.
“We now have much better understanding of some of the challenges facing the water sector in particular, because we have to work together when we develop the five-pillar strategy. We need to establish a National Water Resources and Service Authority, we need something like this. One MP says this department is custodian of water but it doesn’t take the advantage of that.”
[Source: SABC]
