Water is such a scarce commodity that it is impossible to increase supply, as such, demand and waste need to be monitored and reduced. However, people who have never been without water usually take it for granted. Water scarcity is a problem across the globe, with poorer communities being affected the most. Water is a finite resource and as population increases and economic development continues, some countries are failing to meet the demand. South Africa falls under this category and has been classified as one of the driest countries in the world, ranking 30th out of 193 arid countries.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The country\u2019s water woes are further exacerbated by climate change. The impacts of climate have made water availability unpredictable; this results in droughts, floods and rising sea levels. Climate change is not a new topic but does not resonate or \u201ctrend\u201d enough as it should, to highlight its importance. South Africa heavily relies on rainwater, with most of its rainfall in the summer season, from December to February and the Western Cape rainfall season being between June to August.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, due to climate change and other factors, rainfall has become uncertain. The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), as the custodian of the country\u2019s water resources and is primarily responsible for the formulation and implementation of policy governing the sector, aims to ensure that all South Africans have access to clean water and dignified sanitation, while also promoting effective and efficient water resources management.<\/p>\n
It is for this reason that DWS came up with the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan ((NWSMP). The (NW&SMP) intended to guide the water sector with investment planning for the development of water resources and the delivery of water and sanitation services over the horizon until 2030, and beyond. The master plan will include a list of key programmes, projects and actions to be implemented for the protection and development of the national water resources, and the provision of adequate and reliable water and sanitation services for all citizens.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sustainable water management is central to building resilience in societies and ecosystems to reduce carbon emissions. Therefore, alongside the NW&SMP, active and responsible citizenry is encouraged across the spectrum. The need for water security, particularly in the face of global climate change calls for a national and unified approach to protecting water. In this way, all people can benefit from the added-value products and can have access to clean water for basic human needs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
All citizen\u2019s actions towards water security are of utmost importance, in the community and households. It is crucial to take care of running taps, report leakages to the local municipality or report sewer leakages to the DWS Toll-Free number 0800 200 200. To get clean and safe drinking water to our taps, we must ensure that we protect our water infrastructure by not vandalising it. Everyone has a role to play. Water is a basic human right and not a privilege.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
By Nondumiso Mciteka , Senior Communication Officer, Department of Water and Sanitation Free State<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Water is such a scarce commodity that it is impossible to increase supply, as such,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=520"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":522,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520\/revisions\/522"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}