World Water Scarcity Situation Prof. Anthony Turton www.touchstoneresources.co.za

World Water Scarcity 1990 Water scarcity is related to population growth as much as it is related to environmental factors

World Water Scarcity 2020 Note the Cuvelai and the Limpopo River Basin’s both pass into extreme stress because of population growth

World Water Scarcity 2050 Note the Orange River Basin now joins the Limpopo as extremely stressed systems

World Water Scarcity 2070 At this stage the most economically active portion of South Africa resembles the Middle East North Africa

Take Home Message For South Africa to continue with sustained economic growth and prosperity we will need to do things differently. One of these is to understand that Water is a Flux and manage it accordingly. This includes Active Groundwater Recharge that reduces evaporation losses, which in the case of the Orange and Limpopo are as high as ±95% (i.e. Only ± 5% of the water falling as rain ends up in the river and thus a useful economic resource).

Groundwater Recharge in Perth Groundwater recharge uses aquifers to store water underground for future use

Groundwater Recharge in Perth The Perth groundwater recharge will take treated sewage effluent and then store that in aquifers for future use. For more information see http://www.watercorporation.com.au/M/mar_background.cfm