SA has some way to go on water conservation

At a two-day National Water Conservation and Demand Management indaba in Midrand last week, international water expert Asit Biswan said despite recent reports that South Africa was losing billions of litres of water annually due to leaks and burst pipes, the country was rated among the top ten in the world on water conservation. Two countries that are doing well are Singapore and Cambodia, and South Africa was encouraged to look to them for ideas.

Hermanus Municipality in the Western Cape is one of South Africa's innovation leaders in water conservation, first addressing residential demand management and then using the country's Working for Water programme to clear alien vegetation that used a lot of groundwater. Despite considerable progress, there have been claims in the past that poor communities are adversely affected by the Hermanus initiative. This raises the important question of how demand management and cost recovery efforts can be applied equitably in a country where poverty is widespread.