Parched prospects - the emerging water crisis in South Africa

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Authors

Hedden, Steve
Cilliers, Jakkie

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Institute for Security Studies

Abstract

South Africa is over-exploiting its freshwater resources and water could be a large constraint on the implementation of the National Development Plan. Using the International Futures forecasting system, this paper models and forecasts water demand and supply until 2035, the period covered by the National Water Resource Strategy 2013. The authors’ research finds that the gap between demand and supply increases and that the solutions proposed by the Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation will not close the gap without additional, aggressive measures. The authors propose such measures for each sector of demand and each source of water supply.

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Keywords

Freshwater resources, South Africa (SA), International Futures forecasting system, Water demand, Water supply

Sustainable Development Goals

Citation

Hedden, S & Cilliers, J 2014, 'Parched prospects - the emerging water crisis in South Africa', African Futures Paper, no. 11, pp. 1-16.