Water wars
worsen and, by as soon as 2025, according
to many scientists, large parts of the world
could experience perennial water shortages.
Countries with abundant water
resources, in time, will be the target for
invasion, much like oil-rich countries are
presently. Wars will be fought over water
that, now bottled, often retails at more than
a fizzy beverage does. Water is life; we will
die without it.
While Patricia de Lille, Cape Town’s
mayor, is urging a change of mindset
around water usage, with threats of
severe penalties should people continue
to splurge this resource, it is behove on
each individual in South Africa to assess
and reassess their water usage. It is not
an endless resource, and those rivers that
are not dying or being poisoned from
irresponsible industrial pollution or from
untreated, raw human waste, are drying up.
It is up to you to do your share. You
are entitled to nothing; water is a gift.
Appreciate it and respect it, before it is
too late.
technology
A well in the western Indian state of Gujarat
being mobbed during a 2003 drought.
W
Kim Kemp | Editor
ater is increasingly becoming the
most sought-after commodity,
more valuable than the billions
of barrels of oil gushing out of the Middle
Eastern desert, and more valuable than
gold or diamonds. Water is the very elixir
of life.
While sitting in a rather spartan
reception area of a hugely successful local
company in Qatar, I was transfixed by
the water feature that towered above my
head, up to the lofty recesses of the glassed
ceiling. The water trickled down in an
immense curtain as the sunlight sparkled
off its surface.
My initial response was along the
line of: Hmm, pretty low-key décor for a
Middle Eastern company. But then I
halted my critique in its tracks. Of course,
while this was no doubt fairly costly
by way of installation, it was a greater
display of wealth than any gilded fitting,
more valuable than any crystal-bedecked
chandelier — THIS was wealth. In a region
where status is everything, what better way
to display one’s social standing than using
the essence of life as a trivial form of décor,
an almost dismissive trinket to be displayed
in the common reception area?
South Africa is fast becoming aware of
the value of this resource, as the drought
continues to bite deep into the collective
psyche and Cape Town struggles under
ever-increasing water restrictions, now
on Level 5.
In 2015, NASA’s satellite data revealed
that 21 of the world’s 37 large aquifers are
severely water-stressed. With growing
populations and increased demands from
agriculture and industry, researchers
indicated that this crisis is only likely to
Water, Sewage and Effluent now has its own website — www.waterafrica.co.za
— dedicated to all things water-related. Selected articles that appear in the printed
publication will also appear online, as will daily news items sourced from around
our blue globe, alongside interviews and discussion forums.
I encourage participation and look forward to your input in the
Weird Wednesday section.
Image: Verseo Consulting & Solutions
Water Sewage & Effluent September/October 2017
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