The Water Research Commission (WRC) is embarking on a roadshow in the Northern Cape to strengthen provincial water and sanitation resilience to climate change through research, development and innovation.

The event is being held from March 12 to 13, as part of National Water Week, in partnership with the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), the South African Local Government Association (Salga), Sol Plaatje University (SPU) and Frances Baard district municipality.

This follows a strategic decision by WRC in 2023 to pursue a stakeholder-centric approach that boosts innovation-driven developments to enhance climate resilience and adaptation within the water and sanitation sector in South Africa.

The Northern Cape was selected as the first province of focus, and several engagements were held with Salga, SPU, the Office of the Premier and district and local municipalities last year to assess the specific needs of the province.

Limited capacity and skills, limitations in water supply availability, lack of integration of climate resilience and adaptation approaches in provincial and water sector long-term plans and practice, drinking water quality issues, high nonrevenue water and sanitation service management and delivery were identified as key needs of the province.

Accordingly, the WRC was able to match research, development and innovation (RDI) interventions to support development in the province over the next five years.

“This follow-up engagement should be viewed as a platform to empower municipalities in the Northern Cape with research-based tools aimed at relieving water- and wastewater-related challenges experienced in the province,” said WRC CEO Dr Jennifer Molwantwa.

The event aims to announce the strategic interventions that the WRC is supporting in the Northern Cape to accelerate change in water services, and research and development; conduct knowledge-sharing sessions on key needs identified during the pre-engagements; and showcase and engage with Northern Cape partners on innovations and knowledge products that will support improvements in service delivery.

Particular highlights include the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with SPU to launch an Arid Water Centre, with the strategic partnership enhancing collaboration between the university, the WRC and its research partners towards RDI programmes, projects and activities to address key water sector needs and challenges in the Northern Cape.

Solutions will be sought under the topics of climate change, groundwater, citizen science, water and wastewater services, agriculture in arid environments and water socioeconomic and indigenous knowledge.

Various other partnerships with organisations such as Salga and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, besides others, are also aimed at supporting and coordinating initiatives to address the Northern Cape’s water and sanitation challenges.

“Diversified approaches are required to balance water supply and demand. There is a need to explore such innovations at a municipal level. Such challenging problems can only be solved through significant partnership and collaboration, and the WRC aims to play a catalytic role with the Northern Cape,” Molwantwa concluded.