DEAR Editor,-
The announcement of a KZN Water Crisis Task Team, by newly-installed premier Sihle Zikalala, comes two years after the DA’s request for such an intervention was turned down. This on the basis that water is a national competence. According to the premier, the team which comprises, several KZN MECs, will work with all relevant national and international players.
Ideally our province should have started rationing supply and repairing leaks when the first drought warnings came early in 2014.
Regrettably, since then any hope of saving water through diligent control has faded due to ongoing leaks in very old, badly maintained infrastructure. We now face a situation where major dams are at crisis levels and many towns have no water in their taps, forcing people to rely on irregular deliveries from tankers. So, what are we to do?
On a positive note, it is gratifying that KZN’s cabinet has finally recognised that we are a water-scarce province and that they need to diversify the supply from the current surface, ground and treated water by supporting desalination in the province.
While the DA hopes that this will become a reality, we wish to offer a cautionary note. If new plants use electricity from traditional (Eskom) supply, the gains may be cancelled by the water used to generate the power to run the plant! New technology such as solar power must be utilised or we will be going round in circles.
Another point is that instead of one or two large plants along KZN’s coast, government should be looking to construct smaller sites – less distance to pipe, easier to maintain and far more sustainable. The value chain of water is important. Yes, currently we rely on rain for supply, but we can do far more when it comes to recycling, reusing and conserving water. For one, our off-take from empty dams needs policing.
Ultimately, very unpopular decisions need to be made so that essential human needs can be met – this, in an election year, by an already apprehensive ANC.
ANN McDONNELL, MPL
DA KZN Spokesperson on EDTEA
(Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs)
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