National and global leaders call for reuse of water to meet a deepening crisis at the International Conference on Water Reclamation and Reuse in Cape Town this week.

Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina has described South Africa as a country where overall water supply is in delicate balance with demand – but where the impacts of climate change could change things rapidly for the worse. Majodina joined the high-profile speakers at the 14th International Water Association International Conference on Water Reclamation and Reuse, currently underway in Cape Town’s International Convention Centre. 

Speaking at the opening session, she observed that it was auspicious that the conference was taking place during Human Rights month – which the South African Government had also declared water month – since water, she said, is a basic and fundamental human right. She also noted that President Ramaphosa had declared water as a national priority during his state of the nation address – necessary for economic growth and for life itself. 

Accordingly, she said, the national water strategy calls for various measures to improve supply, including increased sustainable use of groundwater, the desalination of seawater, return flows from treated wastewater systems – and water reclamation and reuse.

She identified financing, project delivery models, operations and technologies and innovation as critical issues for the conference, which is a premier event in the water sector, offering a dynamic platform for collaboration and knowledge exchange. Over five days at the CTICC, technical experts, policymakers and innovators are delving into various aspects of water reuse, including decentralized solutions, risk management, industrial reuse, and innovative technologies.

Speaking after the Minister, the World Bank Group’s Water Global Practice Director Saroj Khumar Jha also painted a sobering picture of a world where demand for water already outstrips supply – and identified the urgent need for action. “The scale of the crisis is such that it requires a very different level of intervention, in terms of policy, and technology and financing,” he said. “But that is not happening now.”

Water reuse is a critical means of meeting existing demand for water, he said, noting that it was important to have adequate regulations, institutions and standards in place for its safe application. These would also assist with increasing the acceptance of reusing waste for drinking water – something to which there is often resistance from the public. 

He revealed that there was a global deficit of around $180 billion between what governments need to spend on improving water supply and what they can actually afford – but that this shortfall could be made up by private sector investment. “And with private sector money comes private sector expertise,” he said. Governments have the ability to create an enabling environment for private sector investment, and the World Bank Group offers a number of standard packages and templates that can be immediately applied to the task of attracting private investment for water reuse.

Widespread water reuse is an achievable goal, Jha suggested. Singapore, for example, recycles every single drop of water 2.7 times. And he noted that South Africa itself is a country where the issue of water is integral to national planning processes. 

Jha believes that the extent of the global crisis means that water reuse will become the norm, not the exception. “We’re increasingly seeing national water strategies talking about reuse, for agriculture, drinking, industry, and construction.” Accordingly, he noted, the World Bank Group would step up its financing and technical support for water reuse in developing countries, including South Africa.

Conference Chair Jay Bhagwan of the Water Research Commission (WRC) believes that for South Africa, water reuse represents more than just a response to an urgent need.  “You have to see the economic opportunity around the job creation, and the stimulus it would bring, in terms of industry,” he said at a briefing. “And that's the message we are getting from the World Bank. Water reuse can become an opportunity for us to export innovation, technology, and expertise so that we become a net provider of services to the world.”