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Webinar pioneers interventions on persistent climate change and the water crisis

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On the 26th of May 2022 at 10:00am, the Mandela Bay Development Agency in collaboration with the Water Research Commission (WRC) and Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality hosted a #MBDAConversations Webinar to provide solution pathways for coping with extreme weather events, recurring droughts and the water crisis.

MBDA’s Operations Executive, Debbie Hendricks said, “We are very keen to host such platforms of discussion and engagement around issues that are of importance and pertinent to our city. The MBDA is owned by the Municipality, hence, we are diligently pursuing the development goals of the Metro.”

“The Agency is positioned to pilot ideas, concepts and document our learnings, including sharing this information by applying what we’ve learned. Hosting discussion platforms such as this webinar helps to distribute information and also promote awareness of pertinent issues to the City”, added Hendricks.

Shafick Adams from WRC said, “the aim of the webinar is to discuss and unpack the climatic conditions and persistent droughts to work towards developing a framework that seeks to mitigate against the water security challenges by developing short- and long-term coping strategies.”

North West University Professor, Roelof Burger, explained that they have a good understanding of the meteorological drivers of rainfall variability over the Eastern Cape, and there’s evidence that the variability of rainfall is increasing over time, hence water will become more difficult to manage in the future.

“Therefore, a new approach would certainly have to be considered in relation to being a water scarce region, the realities of climate change are undeniable, as a Development Agency, and a country, we need to position ourselves to find solutions to development challenges”, added Hendricks.

Director of NMBM Water and Sanitation, Barry Martin said, “NMB is currently experiencing a severe drought, which has seen some of the lowest dam levels in recorded history. When we looked at all the Municipal resources and based on the license extractions that we can take from those various resources, the available water storage will be finished at the end of June.”

“The solution that NMBM is promoting is to improve the water supply mix and diversify, so that when one area is struggling, we can back it up with another supply. Our average water consumption is over 200 litres per person per day, whereas it should be 50 litres per person per day, and that is a paradigm shift that we as a whole country need to go through”, added Martin.

University Free State Professor, Andries Jordaan said, “We propose a drought monitoring system with the national Disaster Management Center, which will play a key role where all the job data from the bottom of water affairs from agriculture, the ARC, the CSIR will be captured. Droughts require monitoring on a 24/7 basis and on a weekly basis.”

“We need to use more than one drought index in monitoring drought, then we need to pay attention to what regional extensive drought is doing so that we can have a bigger picture of what is going on over our area and we need to invest more on nature-based solution for mitigating impact of drought risk”, enlightened University of Cape Town Professor, Babatunde added Abiodun.

“For the best solution, we need to use nature-based resolutions for reducing drought risk and a lot of miniature-based solutions have been suggested and most of them are based on land use changes, things like land conservation, wetland restoration, vegetation swell water”, highlighted Abiodun.

Martin added that, “The sea is an unlimited water resource for us, the only problem is just more expensive to treat, and there we need a paradigm shift in how we view that in this country as well.”

“South Africa is water scarce and has a highly variable climate. There’s also a water scarcity of access, especially among poor and vulnerable communities, water is unevenly distributed. Countrywide identified strategic interventions such as water conservation, demand management, water development projects, diversifying the water mix and development of water projects”, added Dr Chris Moseki from the Department of Water and Sanitation.

MBDA’s spokesperson, Luvuyo Bangazi concluded, “Such conversations form part of the NMBM Joint Operations Centre in dealing with the water crisis and this session was about expanding on understanding the best practice. We continue to stress that water conversation is a collective effort, the city alone cannot do it, but it’s an issue we can resolve.”

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.