The current drought that is being experienced throughout South Africa is the worst in 23 years, and the South African Weather Service announced that 2015 was the driest year on record according to records dating back to 1904. The government is spending around $25 million on initiatives aimed at reducing the effects of the drought, such as drilling boreholes, upgrading infrastructure, capturing more rainwater and building desalination plants to make sea water drinkable.
Prices of certain food items are expected to soar in the next few months as a result of farmers not being able to produce as much as they would normally be able to, and this is then passed on to the consumer in the shape of price increases for foods heavily affected by the water shortage. In fact, food prices have already risen sharply in stores in anticipation of shortages and added expenses to produce certain items such as maize, meat, fruit, vegetables and poultry products.
The drought has had a huge financial impact on farmers, with many struggling to meet their targets and operating at a loss. The problem is that this will have a knock-on effect for a few seasons, as farmers have not been able to plant crops, and will now be under more financial strain due to a lack of crop and lack of money to purchase seed for the next seasons.
In recent months Gauteng residents have been urged to use water sparingly while KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, the North West and the Free State have been declared disaster areas, with severe water shortages and food security concerns making life difficult for those who live in the affected provinces.
A water drive that was started by ordinary citizens throughout South Africa has grown into a nationwide effort to donate and deliver water to the most affected areas of the country. Catapulted into life via social media, a combination of corporates and individuals have come together to ensure that thousands of litres of water have reached those who desperately need it, and this has made a huge difference to many people in the disaster areas.
Meteorologists blame El Nino for the current drought, and expect these conditions to persist in the country until March, but the difficulty for South Africa is that most of the rainfall in the worst affected part of the country typically falls between September and February.
Water shedding has been implemented in KwaZulu Natal since June 2015, with water turned off in certain areas at certain times. Water is being rationed in the province due to the drought and continued high water usage from households and businesses. This means that a certain amount of water is allocated to each household or business on a daily basis. Water restrictors have been installed into taps in the eThekwini Municipality to ensure even distribution by reducing water pressure by 30%.
According to a Sunday Times report, South Africa is losing an amount of 1.58 billion kilolitres of water a year because of leaky pipes and theft. A Water Research Commission (WRC) study shows that 132m k/l a month is lost, which would be enough water to fill a third of the Gariep Dam, the largest in South Africa. This loss of water costs the country an estimate of $454 million a year.
