Analysis by Steven Lang
GRAHAMSTOWN, Jun 30 2008 (IPS) – Earlier this month, a private pilot reported to a Johannesburg radio station that while flying over the Kruger National Park, in the far eastern reaches of the country, he had spotted the carcasses of several large crocodiles floating in the Olifants River. This was unusual because the crocodiles within the country s largest game reserve are protected from hunting.
Game rangers soon confirmed that at least 30 fully grown crocodiles had died in the river apparently from a disease known as pansteatitis. This condition causes an inflammation of body fats which then harden resulting in a drawn out death for the animal.
Pansteatitis is usually associated with the consumption of rotten or rancid fish. However, there had been no recent reports of pollution or illegal dumping that might have poisoned fish stocks in the river.
At the time of writing, state veterinarians are still examining samples taken from the dead crocodiles. They are considering the possibility that the large reptiles might have ingested some sort of poison directly from the water itself.
This incident has not yet been linked to any human fatalities; nevertheless it is indicative of the poor state of the country s waters if wildlife in a protected environment is succumbing to water borne pollution.
In the past twelve months, while compiling articles for the IPS News Southern African Water Wire, it has become evident that South Africa is facing a serious water crisis. In this relatively short period, the state of the nation s water resources appears to have deteriorated rather than improved.
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There are several reasons for this gloomy outlook, but ultimately local and national water authorities have to carry the blame for failing to maintain, and where necessary, upgrade basic water infra-structure.
The lack of maintenance can be partly attributed to the bleeding of skills in the water management sector. Many hundreds of water professionals have left their jobs in local municipalities and have not been replaced with people of comparable skills.
Nationwide, water authorities have not been able to ensure that local water infrastructure is properly maintained.
In Mpumalanga, the same province where the crocodiles died, cholera and typhoid have been persistent threats to the health of its citizens in recent months. In the first week of June, eight miners contracted cholera in the Barberton area. Two of them died.
This was not an isolated incident. In the same province, hundreds of people have contracted cholera, or suffered from serious diarrhoea directly attributable to the water sources in towns such as Delmas, Standerton and Lake Chrissie. The Southern African Water Wire has reported extensively on some of these cases.
Life-threatening water-borne infections have not been restricted to Mpumalanga province. More than one hundred babies have died from diarrhoea in the Senqu municipality in the Eastern Cape. Substantial amounts of toxic waste has been found in water sources in Gauteng Province and villagers in the North West Province have rioted and blocked national roads because local authorities have been unable to meet their water requirements.
The accelerated urbanisation of the South African population has exacerbated the water crisis, because local authorities have not been able to keep pace with the demands that follow the rapid population growth of towns and cities.
In many small towns, government has made a concerted effort to do away with the so called bucket system . President Thabo Mbeki gave high priority to eliminating this degrading method of disposing of human waste in a bucket that is periodically emptied into a purpose built truck.
Doing away with buckets and installing modern flush toilets in impoverished areas has put an enormous strain on the sanitation systems of these towns. Municipalities do not have the resources or the necessary skill base to upgrade the local sanitation system to cope with the vastly greater number of users.
The additional strain inevitably leads to mistakes and breakdowns.
Government authorities are not the only ones to blame for the impending water crisis in South Africa. Mining companies have been reluctant to spend the extra money needed to prevent water pollution. They have also been unwilling to accept responsibility for damage they have caused to water systems in areas where they have mined.
Water Wire highlighted several cases where Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) has caused severe damage to rivers and lakes in the country. AMD occurs when rivers or groundwater seeps into areas that have been mined out. The water reacts chemically with the exposed surfaces in the mines to produce a toxic combination that is very destructive to the natural water system.
In some cases the extent of the damage to the environment only becomes apparent several years after mining operations have ceased.
Government has been sluggish about forcing mining houses to abide by laws aimed at protecting the environment.
Part of the difficulty of implementing existing environmental and water legislation, which is highly regarded both nationally and internationally, has been the reluctance of government departments to agree on areas of responsibility. Sometimes they fight among each other for control over a particular aspect of government and other times they are all too happy to shift blame to other departments.
In the case of mining rights in Mpumalanga, the department of Minerals and Energy will not allow the department of the Environmental Affairs and Tourism to interfere with its right to issue coal mining permits, even though future mining operations will probably cause irreversible ecological damage to one of the country s most pristine lakes.
In the case of the Senqu Municipality in the Eastern Cape where problems with the water reticulation system caused the death of more than one hundred babies, the national Health Department blames the water system and argues that the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) must resolve the problem. In its turn, DWAF blames the local municipality because it says that it has no control over local water systems. In a classic case of passing the buck, local officials say that the babies are dying due to health related matters therefore the Health Department should be held accountable for the deaths.
In the light of these and other difficulties highlighted in the IPS Southern Africa Water Wire over the last twelve months, it would appear that South Africa s water problems are likely to become more serious before they are resolved.
