A growing number of water contamination incidents around South Africa raises concerns about the country's ability to meet increasing water demand with its scarce and finite resources.
Recent years have seen a steady stream of media reports on towns and cities running out of water - or experiencing water supply disruptions caused by a range of factors from prolonged drought to poorly maintained or ageing infrastructure. These incidents have generally highlighted the scarcity of this precious resource in a region which is, on the whole, semi-arid.
Add to this the spectre of contamination and the outlook becomes considerably worse. It is clear that the country needs to better conserve and manage its freshwater resources, but contamination has the potential to whittle away even the finite volumes which we have been gifted.
The diverse source of contamination affecting the quality of our water resources point to failures at all levels, and an urgent need for the country to pause and take stock. The reports of generated deteriorating water quality in rivers and dams have been frequently interrupted by more extreme examples of water contamination hitting the headlines in recent years; cholera outbreaks , municipal water supplies which no longer meet drinking water standards and other industrial contamination incidents.
Less dramatic, and probably not as closely monitored by the public, are the hundreds of dysfunctional wastewater treatment plants and associated effluent reticulation systems that discharge hazardous effluent into river systems. There is also a range of poorly understood pollutants, where research is still needed before the extent of the potential risks and implications can be understood.
