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Pretoria - Foreign help needs to be summoned to keep South Africa's water resources pure, because government does not have the capacity to do so.
This was a delegate's reaction at Wednesday's Tau SA Congress in Pretoria to a presentation by the CSIR's Dr Paul Oberholster on the state of the country's water resources.
Oberholster said that in 2000 ten to nineteen water-management areas in South Africa already had a greater demand for water than was available.
It appears that rising population numbers, increased economic activity and climate change will cause the entire country to have insufficient water to meet its requirements by 2025.
By 2030 the country's urban and domestic water consumption will comprise 23% of the total water consumed, compared to 10% in 1996.
Mining and industrial operations are expected to require 11% of the country's water (compared to 1996's 8%), irrigation 52% (compared to 1996's 62%) and the environment 14% (20% in 1996).
It is in Limpopo, in particular, where there are question marks about the availability of water for the envisaged mining developments and expansion of power-generation plants.
He referred to various scientific studies that already indicate high levels of contamination threatening the environment, animal life and even people's lives.
But Oberholster said the biggest impending water problem is not a possible water shortage, but rather the quality of the water.
In the discussions following the presentation, the mines and Eskom were fingered as the biggest culprits, while municipalities' inability to manage their sewerage systems properly was also highlighted.
Questions were also asked about agriculture's contribution to the deterioration of the country's water.
The Congress adopted a creed in terms of which Tau SA would accept the responsibility and duty of protecting the soil, plant life, animal life and natural resources and of managing them as the next generation's legacy.
- Sake24.com
For more business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com.