water supply - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

South Africa’s crucial water supplies from Lesotho: what the six-month shutdown means for industry, farming and residents

THE main water supply to South Africa’s economic hub, greater Johannesburg in the Gauteng province, and to the country’s breadbasket in the Free State, is scheduled to be cut off for six months. Maintenance work on the 37-kilometre Lesotho Highlands Water Project tunnel is due to begin in October 2024. Ifedotun Victor Aina, a senior researcher at the Water and Production Economics Research Unit at the University of Cape Town, takes a critical look at who could be affected by the shutdown and what might happen. What is the Lesotho Highlands Water Project? Why is it so important? It is…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

We found traces of drugs in a dam that supplies Nigeria’s capital city

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

PHARMACEUTICALS – drugs used to prevent or treat human and animal diseases – are essential for health and well-being. But the increasing use of these drugs means that remnants of them are showing up in the aquatic environment. They are contaminating our waters. IFENNA ILECHUKWU, Lecturer of Environmental Chemistry, Madonna University, Nigeria Pharmaceuticals are part of a group of substances known as emerging contaminants. Although they are potentially harmful to human and ecological health, they are yet to be regulated and routinely monitored in the environment. Most conventional treatment plants typically do not remove emerging pollutants because they were not…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Why full dams don’t mean water security: a look at South Africa

ENVIRONMENT

AFTER good summer rains, the dams that supply water to Johannesburg and much of South Africa’s economic heartland are full. This, then, is the time to start worrying about water supplies. MIKE MULLER, Visiting Adjunct Professor, School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand It may sound odd but it’s a lesson learnt from cities across the world over the past two decades. Whether it was Sydney and Melbourne in Australia, Chennai in India, Barcelona in Spain or São Paulo in Brazil, we have seen that, too often, water crises occur because societies don’t take action until it’s already too late.…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Safe drinking water should mean safe collection too: how to reduce the risks

ENVIRONMENT

GLOBALLY, millions of people don’t have access to water in their home. They collect water from shared water supply points or surface water sources and physically carry water containers back home for household use. DR JO-ANNE GEERE, Lecturer, School of Health Sciences, University of East Anglia The importance of accessing water that’s safe to drink and enough water for washing, cleaning and cooking is clear. But little attention has been given to the safety of water collection away from home, or to the health and safety of the people who typically do this work. It’s most often women and girls…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

COVID-19: the risk the pandemic poses to SA’s water supply

COVID-19

Household water supplies may fall victim to the COVID-19 pandemic – if users can no longer pay their bills, and municipalities’ revenue streams dry up, experts have warned. “In the short term, there will still be water for people to wash their hands. However, the long term consequences could be devastating if municipalities are not able to fund their ongoing operations while funds for the President’s Infrastructure Investment initiative will also be affected,” says Mike Muller, Chair of the Technical Subcommittee for the Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA). As the lockdown impacts individuals and companies across the spectrum, prompting…