South Africa 'needs water infrastructure upgrade'

4 January 2010

South Africa's water infrastructure improvement needs have been quantified in a report by the Water Resource Group.

In figures relayed by publication Business Day, projects to expand capacity should be undertaken as soon as possible to allow for a predicted margin between supply and demand of 17.7 per cent in 2030.

Managing water resources by reducing consumption should be a complementary tactic in order to anticipate shortfall, it was advised.

According to the report, meeting the water demand for power generation will be one of South Africa's biggest challenges, as an extra 25GW of generation capacity could be needed for 2025.

Industry will be the biggest consumer of this resource, with manufacturing expected to account for 70 per cent of 2030's volumes.

During a recent meeting in South Africa, water ministers from different countries gathered to discuss the eventual creation of a water fund for the continent, the East Africa magazine reported.

Member states could draw from it to finance their own national and regional water and sanitation development programmes.

Category: Water