WATER ISSUES
From page 12
that determines a per capita
minimum may differ from
place to place.
“Water scarcity” is a more
relative concept describing
the relationship between
demand for water and its
availability. The demands may
vary considerably between
different countries and
different regions within a
given country depending on
the domestic, agricultural and
industrial usage of water.
“Water security” is a situation
of reliable and secure access
to water over time. It does not
equate to constant quantity of
supply as much as predictability, which enables measures to
be taken in times of scarcity to
avoid stress.
Water scarcity is influenced by
population growth, challenges
of food production, climatic
change and variability, but
perhaps the greatest variety of
impacts is from changes in
land use.
While reduction of vegetation
cover may result in greater
run off, it reduces groundwater infiltration and the storage
capacity of dams and lakes
through siltation. The draining
of large scale wet-lands or
large scale deforestation may
change the micro-climate of a
region.
The need for improved
farming methods and greater
understanding of the relationship between soil and water is
evident in many parts of the
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country. The consequences of
poor land management and
farming methods is to push
communities ever closer to
the point of vulnerability
where even small changes in
conditions can have disastrous
effects.
Poor choices of "thirsty" crops
such as forestry, particularly in
sensitive areas such as
mountain catchments, or vast
stretches of monoculture have
a strong negative impact on
water resources.
Gautengers also need to
change mind-set when it
comes to the availability of
water. Our region does not
have plenty of water as many
seem to think. Government at
every level needs to address
education of the population
in terms of reducing and
managing the demand for
water, as well as enforcing
greater efficiency of water use
and introducing water
conservation measures.
Continued on page 15